


Endless Summer

by culieskye



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Falls, Alternate Universe - Reverse Falls, Deer Dipper Pines, Dimension Travel, End of the World, Gravity Falls - Freeform, I Don't Even Know, I'm Sorry, Mabel Pines' Sweaters, Mermaid Mabel Pines, Multi, Other, Reverse Dipper Pines, Reverse Mabel Pines, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, Weirdmageddon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-10 05:30:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5572702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/culieskye/pseuds/culieskye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel's wish for an endless summer has been her biggest regret ever since she lost Dipper, the entire town Resets every two months, and the constant threat of Bill is always there in the bedroom next to her.</p><p>But now that things have gone from pretty sketchy to pretty terrible; can Mabel and Dipper save what's left of Gravity Falls, or is it already too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, quick what up here! I just want to say this is my first fanfic (since like five years ago.) So I hope you enjoy it :)))))))))))))))

**Chapter One. Mystery Twins**

 

 

_Ford shook hands with the yellow triangular demon. Blue flame sealed their fates and Bill smiled at Ford._

_“I’ll be back before you know it, Stanford Filbrick Pines.”_

_“Just keep your end of the deal, Bill Cypher.”_

_Bill faded slowly and tipped his small top hat, “I always do, Old Pal. I always do.” And then he was gone, and so was life as they knew it in Gravity Falls._

\---

 

Robbie shook his head at his younger sister, “No, Mabel. I’m busy.”

“Robbbbbbbiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-,”

“Please stop-,”

“Iiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-,”

“Fine. Fine. What do you want to do?” he sat up, kicking his feet off of his bed.

        Mabel was his kid sister that looked nothing like his parents. He looked like his father, but Mabel… well, he assumed she took after some random grandparent somewhere. Mabel and Robbie’s parents were the cheerful owners of the local funeral home, Robbie tended to wear black hoodies and fake tattoos (to impress the ladies) and Mabel wore brightly colored sweaters that she liked to knit herself. But to make sure his kid sister wouldn’t turn out like their parents, a fake tattoo was on her wrist. Even if she had chosen a constellation this week.

“Candy and Grenda are going to the movies and it’s a rated R movie and we need someone old to get us in!” She tugged at his sleeve, dragging him from his bed. He staggered up and sighed,

“Which movie?”

“The scary one.”

He raised his eye brow at her, “The… scary one? Is this another trick to get me to watch some stupid boy band movie? Because if I hear one more song by Sev’ral Times I’m going to punch the next person I see. In the face.”

She smiled wide, the lying smile, “Nooooooooo.”

“I hate you Mabel.” But he was already up, “I’ll bring you, how about that?”

“Thanks!” she ran out of the room; the clinking of her plastic homemade bracelet in tune with her bouncy steps. Robbie knew what the cheap bracelet said; Mystery Twins. Neither knew what it meant. Robbie wasn’t a twin and neither was Mabel; although sometimes he could find her talking to herself when she was alone.

_“Mabes?” Robbie stuck his face in her room. She was surrounded by blank pages and she looked frantic, her big brown eyes were filled with tears,_

_“I can’t fix this! I can’t even find him- I can’t-,”_

_“Find who?”_

_Mabel nearly screamed and she quickly wiped her over- sized sweater sleeve across her face and sniffled, “Robbie!”_

_“Let me help you. I’m sure we can figure out-,”_

_But then it was over. She stared at the blank pages, defeated and broken. “Don’t worry about it Robbie.” She shot him a small smile, “You’re a great brother.” And started to clean up. Robbie left her alone and didn’t talk to anyone about it. Not even Mabel. It wasn’t the first time he found her freaking out over something he couldn’t see or didn’t understand._

He texted his girlfriend, _I’m dropping Mabel off at the movies. Wanna meet up? We can watch something, not with them of course. My treat._ Send. He stared at his phone, waiting for her reply. Wendy had finally agreed to date him a week ago. A week before summer started. A summer fling, that he would make last a life time.

 _Sure._ He smiled at the reply. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his wallet off his dresser.

“Robbbbbiiiiiiieeeeeeeee-,”

“What?”

“Can you pick up Candy and Grenda too?”

“Yes.” He sighed. And shut his door staring down the hall to his parents’ bedroom.

What was the point of having kids if you weren’t going to keep care of them? Ever since he could remember, he had always kept care of Mabel. When she was a baby, they just disappeared into their work and never really cared anymore. He didn’t remember that very well either. Mabel as a baby, or even as a smaller kid. When he thought about it, his head just hurt. He shrugged away the thought, someone had to keep care of Mabel, and it just turned out to be him.

 

Sev’ral Times blared in his van. But he didn’t know who was louder, the obnoxious blonde boys or the preteen girls in his backseat. He parked and turned off his car, “Alright, everybody out.” But they were already out and headed to the line. He followed them and saw Wendy. He waved her over and that’s when he noticed some kid following her. It wasn’t one of her little brothers she was always letting loose on the world, it was a brunette with a stupid baseball hat.

“Hey Robbie! I brought Dipper along, he’s new here. Lives up at the Mystery Shack with Mr. Pines.”

“Dipper?”

“Yeah. Robbie, Dipper. Dipper, Robbie.” Robbie stared at the kid. He had seen that kid somewhere before. His brown hair was curled at the edges of his baseball hat and his brown eyes…

“Robbiiiieeeeee, can I borrow five bucks?” Mabel called behind him.

Robbie smiled at the kid, “Oh, he can watch The Times with Mabel and her friends.”

“The Times? I’m not watching that.” Dipper grumbled.

Mabel ran over and pulled at Robbie’s sleeve and stopped mid-tug. Dipper and Mabel froze as they stared at each other. That’s where Robbie knew Dipper from; he had seen him every day before, just in bright sweaters and quirky hair styles. They looked the same.

“Wow. You guys could be twins.” Wendy said slowly.

“I’m Mabel.” Mabel offered her hand slowly, pushing up her sleeve to show her clammy palm. Dipper shook it, identical hands too?

“Dipper.” Clinking of bracelets. Dipper looked at her hand and yanked his away and fell back a step, “Where… where did you get that?” Robbie was sure his heart skipped a beat. Mabel’s bracelet. Dipper had a matching one. Mystery Twins.

“I… uh… I’ve always had it. It was given to me by-,” she stammered. They were staring at each other. Robbie felt out of place. Like something was happening, and he had no idea what. Sure Gravity Falls was weird, but this was really weird.

“Maybe you guys got them both from the same thrift store. Didn’t I buy that for you, Mabes?” Robbie asked slowly. He didn’t remember buying Mabel that stupid bracelet. In fact he didn’t remember a lot of things about Mabel. One day he was an only child with happy parents and then the next he has some kid sister and his parents are gone.

_Gone._

“Where’s Waddles?” she whispered to Dipper.

Dipper stopped, confusion written across his face.

“Dipper, is- are you okay?” She hugged him, not weird for Mabel. She hugged Old Man McGucket all the time, but the hug freaked out the other kid.

“Whoa- listen I-,” he pushed her off gently, “I don’t really know who you are. Waddles was my pet pig when I was a kid. I don’t even know who you are, really.”

“Dipper?” Robbie said the name again, slowly. Something didn’t feel right.

Mabel shook her head violently, “No. No, you’re right. I don’t know what came over me. I … just always wanted a pet pig.” She said, her voice shaking. She looked up at Robbie, “Robbie? Are you okay? Should we go home?”

Robbie blushed, “What? No. Wendy and I are seeing a movie while you and your friends watch Sev’ral Times.” He pulled out his wallet and grabbed a five dollar bill and handed it to her, “There.”

“You still good Dipper?” Wendy asked. He nodded, his eyes following Mabel into the theater.

“Keep your eyes to yourself, kid. That’s my kid sister you’re staring at.” Robbie shoved the kid to the side as he took Wendy’s hand. She raised her eye brows, but followed behind him. That was the thing about Wendy. He could do anything, and she loved him no matter what. And he loved her. They were meant to be together.

“She could be my twin, that’s gross.” Dipper mumbled. Robbie looked behind him, but the kid was gone. He shrugged and went inside to enjoy his time with Wendy.

 

\---

 

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel yelled at the Mystery Shack’s front door, banging with both fists, “LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!”

“Mr. Pines isn’t home right now…” Soos shakily called back.

“Soos, get out from under the register or I’ll break another window!”

The door flew open, Grunkle Stan glaring down at her, “You keep breaking all my windows I won’t afford to keep this place open!”

“Why is Dipper here?”

“Your parents… sent him here. I couldn’t say no. They were desperate. Said he was talking to himself, had imaginary friends and wouldn’t talk to real people. They didn’t know what else to do. Something is wrong with him, Mabel.”

“We knew there was a chance of that. It was a sacrifice for a reason.”

“But we got to keep our memories.” He lowered his voice and sighed, “Let’s bring this down stairs, huh?”

“Does Ford know?” she asked. She stopped calling him Grunkle when he lost Dipper two years ago.

“No. He’s been working down there non-stop. Maybe you could get him to stop. Get him to eat something, watch t.v. You’re the only one he listens to.” He rustled her hair, messing up her pink head band, “Robbie been treating you alright?”

“I keep care of us pretty good. I haven’t seen yellow eyes pop out. But he saw Dipper. They’re seeing a movie together.” They were walking across the sales floor and she smiled at Soos. “Hey, Soos? Sorry about earlier? Can you grab me a soda from the kitchen though?”

“No problem, Dude!” he jumped up and waddled out. She plugged in the secret code and she and Stan shuffled behind the vending machine. She stared at Dipper’s outfit that hung on a hanger. She sighed and piled her hair into a bun and shoved the blue pine tree hat over her bushy hair and kicked off her shoes. Stan was already going downstairs so she could finish getting dressed. She looked in the mirror and touched up her hair, she looked exactly like Dipper. But she was fifteen now, although people still remembered her as twelve. Her breasts weren’t growing much anyway, and neither were her hips. She had her brother’s body, a curse in the normal world, but here. It was a blessing.

“Dipper is that you?” Ford called up the stairs as she headed down.

“Yeah.” Mabel lied as she turned the corner, “Sorry, I got side tracked on my own project-,” she sighed. The bags under his eyes were darker than they were last time. His face was hairy with a gray beard and his hair was down to his shoulders, “Hey, Grunkle Ford, maybe you should take a break. Let me do some work down here and you take a shower and eat. Grunkle Stan is making Stancakes! Family favorite!”

“You sound like Mabel when you talk like that. I miss her you know. Car accident.” He sighed, “I can’t imagine how you live with it. So young. At least I had Stan when I was your age-,”

“Grunkle Ford, I miss her too. But I’m okay. We both know she couldn’t handle this.” She gestured to the Portal. It was offline, had been for two years. Two years of being remembered as an almost thirteen year old Mabel with her funny sweaters and quirky attitude. Two years of Hell. But no one remembered Dipper, her serious younger twin. The one who saved the entire town, even if it was stuck in a time loop. She regretted her summer wish now, years later. When she had wished that summer would last forever, she wanted it to be with her brother, her best friend, in the Mystery Shack with her favorite uncle. Bill kept his promises, in the worst ways.

“You’re right, Dipper. You always are.” He whispered, “I hope you don’t leave for so long next time, this project… it gets heavy sometimes.”

“I know Grunkle Ford, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” She hugged the crazy old man, as Stan nodded a thank you to her, taking his twin brother out of the metal prison of gizmos and gadgets. Dipper loved it down here. But Bill showed her that if she died, Dipper would break down. None of this would ever get off the ground. So, she got rid of Dipper. She sat in Ford’s chair and started to read his notes. Half of it was gibberish. But parts made sense. She scribbled them down quickly, struggling to put the broken pieces of math together before Ford got back. By time Stan came back, Mabel had finished rummaging through his notes and adding a few of her own.

“Soos grabbed your soda.” Stan said quietly.

She jumped and sighed, “Thanks.”

“Think you’ll ever come over to watch t.v., like the good old days?” he asked as she took the soda.

“When I get Gravity Falls back to normal again. Tell Ford I’ll be back tomorrow as soon as I can. He’s getting close to something. Just don’t leave him alone down here too long. Half of these notes are about Mab,” she stopped and sighed, “-me.”

“Dipper is back now. We could get all of us back in here again-,”

“And tell Ford we’ve lied to him because he liked Dipper more than me?” she hissed, “And then who watches Robbie and Wendy? Who keeps everything in line? _Send Dipper home_.”

She stormed upstairs, getting back into her own clothes and sneaking out of the shack. As she headed out the door, closing it quietly behind her she turned to face the road out covered in darkness. How had it become night so quickly?

“Damn!” she broke into jog. Robbie would be worried sick.

 

\----

 

Robbie sat through the movie, but he had no idea what was going on. He couldn’t focus. Something about the Dipper kid, his hat… Wendy was holding his hand. He held it back and smiled at her. She didn’t care much that he lost Dipper. She was cool and laid-back like that. She had always been… hadn’t she?

Wendy headed home after the movie. Robbie didn’t walk her home, or drive her either. He just… left. He was so messed up over that damn kid. Things didn’t seem to be adding up. That kid. With the stupid blue pine tree hat.

_Pine Tree._

He shook the word from his head and headed to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Was he missing something? Someone? No, he was an only child… **MABEL**! He looked into the mirror, horrified that he left his kid sister at the movie theater then screamed.

Brown eyes were not looking back at him. Yellow eyes were. His pupils were black slits. It was only for a split second. But then his brown eyes blinked back into place. He was breathing heavy. What the Hell was that? What was going on?

“Robbie?” he heard Mabel call from downstairs and slam the door shut behind her.

“Mabel!” he took a deep breath and rushed downstairs. Her hair was in a messy bun and she looked exhausted. She must have walked home, “Mabes, I’m so sorry! I am! I don’t know what came over me to forget you-,”

“You… forgot me?” she asked as she headed into the kitchen.

He followed her, “Yeah. The movie ended ages ago.”

“And when did you remember you left me?”

“Just now. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know what came over me-,” She stared at him, an empty tea mug in her hand, a tea packet in the other. Did she drink tea? He didn’t know that.

“Robbie, be dead honest with me. Have you seen anything weird lately?”

_I had yellow eyes._

_Yes you did, Goth Boy. But are we going to tell Shooting Star we’re seeing things?_

_I-I- who are-_

_Don’t stand there awkwardly. Lie to her. Tell her you’re fine. Go upstairs. C’mon._

“Uh, every-everything’s fine. I’m sorry I forgot you Mabes. It won’t happen again.” He went to rustle her hair, but it didn’t feel right. He turned around and headed upstairs. He shut his bedroom door and locked it. He turned his back against the wall and whispered, “What’s going on?”

_Well, that’s a good question. Pine Tree is here for a reason. And that reason is me. He made a deal with me and memories or not, he knows it._

“Deal? What deal? Pine Tree? You mean Dipper?”

_Dipper. I hate love that kid. He’s smart. I’ll give him that. But I underestimated his sister._

“Who are you?”

_Robbie, I am your best friend. You don’t remember me, but I helped you get Red. And now you two are in love. I got rid of your only possible competition and now you’re happy. But Shooting Star down stairs felt differently about your happiness._

“Shooting Star? Do you mean Mabes?”

_Yes. She stuck me in your head, but we can fix that._

“Why would Mabes do that?”

_Have you ever wondered where your parents are all the time?_

“Work out of town. When they had Mabes, things changed.”

_No. When Mabes inserted herself into your life after your parents died, things changed._

“What?”

_Oh, don’t freak out now. It’s been two years. Summer on loop, her last wish. Shooting Star’s deal with me. That dome is still over this city too, I’m sure. A city just missing from the world. Have you ever noticed people changing? Getting taller? Bigger? Older? Look at yourself._

Robbie did. He could see what the voice meant. His hair was longer. He had stubble. How had he never noticed that?

_But how did Dipper get through… if we’re a city missing… how did Dipper get through?_

“Who are you?” he asked, trying to understand what was going on.

_The name is Bill. Let’s make a deal, kid._

 

\---

 

Mabel sat at the kitchen counter sipping on her cup of tea. She didn’t usually drink tea often. It was something she did when she was stressed, or sad, or just overwhelmed. And she was sure she was all three of those things right now.

Dipper. She hadn’t seen him for two years. He was taller. He looked kept care of though. Mom and Dad had more time to focus on him since they were told she died. One kid dies and suddenly you can’t take your eyes off the other. He didn’t even remember her. That was a possible side effect. He didn’t remember anyone. That made it better. She ran her hands through her hair, finally pulling out her bun. She wondered sometimes what would have happened if they had never come to Gravity Falls. Mom and Dad would have left them to their own devices. Gambled away their food money and told them to stay in their room, like they always did. Now that she was older, she hated her family. Her parents, all of them. Grunkle Stan was her only family, the only one she liked. And Dipper.

She looked at the tattoo of the Big Dipper on her wrist and smiled softly. Robbie kept telling her to pick out a stupid fake tattoo, so she just got a real one. So that way she was always with Dipper. Robbie wasn’t terrible as a brother. But he didn’t replace Dipper. But when he stupidly agreed to that deal with Bill, well she was stuck with him on Bill Watch. The babysitter of a grown man because he was a ticking bomb and he didn’t even know it.

Ford would fix the portal soon. He was close. And once the damn thing was finished, Robbie would be thrown into the portal and sacrificed to get rid of Bill for good. It wasn’t something she would do two years ago, but being one of the only people cognate of the two month loop over the last two years, she didn’t care what she needed to do to end this torture.

She remembered the last time she saw Dipper. Two years ago, the dome was lifted for two minutes and Bill was screaming, people were dying and she was dying. There was blood dripping through her sweater and Dipper’s brown eyes were filled with tears.

A knock on the door brought her back to reality. Was Wendy coming over tonight? She sighed and took a final sip from her Mystery Shack mug and called out, “Coming!”

She pulled open the door, expecting Dipper’s old crush, but instead saw Dipper staring back at her.

“Why is there a picture of you in my Grunkle’s bedroom? A picture of you and me and a pig?” he dug in his pocket and showed her the picture. She smiled at the memory and then shook her head,

“That’s not me.”

“Looks a lot like you.”

“Nope.”

“Everyone says you’re twelve. But you’re not, are you?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at Dipper.”

“That was me, when I was twelve. And if that’s you and me together. Then we were twelve together. Because we’re mystery twins, aren’t we? We’re twins. I know you know it.”

Her heart was racing, “Dipper, I need you to leave.”

“Mabel, tell me.”

“I-I can’t.” A scream. Dipper looked upstairs then looked back to Mabel, but she was already running up the stairs. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She hated locked doors, twice in one day? Her tea’s calming effect was already gone as she started banging on the door and yelling,

“ROBBIE! ROBBIE LET ME IN! RIGHT NOW!”

“Shooting Star, is that you?” She froze. Her heart raced. The worst possible thing. She knew it. How did Dipper get back in? How did people… Was the dome gone? She was too focused on the Portal that she forgot to do her checks on the Dome. That was Stan's responsibility now, anyway! Bill couldn’t find that out. She needed to get him to go back to sleep.

“Shooting Star?” he was still in Robbie’s body. That was Robbie’s voice. She could hear Dipper walking up the stairs behind her. She sighed and turned to glare at him, stopping him in his tracks.

She hissed, “Get lost. This isn’t your business. We’re not related. We’re not anything to each other. Go back to your parents and get out of here. No one wants you here, kid.” It hurt her. Physical pain ran through her to say those things to the one person she’d missed more than anything the last few years. He opened his mouth to talk, but she shook her head and put a finger over her mouth. She walked towards him and slowly tugged him back down the stairs.

“Shooting Star?” the door unlocked.

“Run.” She grabbed his hand and broke out into a run, dragging Dipper behind her. Next stop, the Mystery Shack.


	2. Mystery Shack.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel leads Dipper back to the Mystery Shack, where he meets more residents from Gravity Falls and learns more about his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again! Omigosh, thanks so much for reading and sticking through this! You, yes you, are perfect! *cough* Keep reading *cough*   
> Thanksssss <3

Chapter Two. Mystery Shack

_Mabel coughed up blood, she quickly wiped it off. If Dipper knew she was hurt, he would be irrational. She wished she could call for him. But if anyone knew she was alive… She’d get everyone killed._

_His baseball hat. She grabbed it off the ground and felt tears sting her eyes, “Dipper?” she whispered for her brother, “Dipper?” she fought the sob. She couldn’t live without him. She knew she couldn’t. And there he was. He was covered in bruises and blood. She rushed to him._

_He opened his eyes and he smiled, “Mabel! You’re okay!”_

_“_ _Of course I am!” she smiled._

_Everything hurt. God, she felt like she was dying. Probably because she was. She tapped his head, “Boop. We’ll make it out of this. Together.” His eyes closed._

_His heart stopped. His breathing slowed. She beat his chest. She demanded he wake up. But he was gone. She screamed. She screamed for Bill._

_She was going to kill him._

\---

Pacifica hated the summer. It was hot, wet, and her personal un-favorite, tourists. Her parents loved the tourists’, well their money anyway. But Pacifica found it just harder to breathe when Gravity Falls was packed with people in the sweaty months of June and July. But the thing was, this summer didn’t have any tourists at all. Her father hadn’t been home all summer, on a business trip or something. And her mother hadn’t really left her room much but to say “Wine. I need wine.” And then disappear. Her servants avoided her as well, it was like one minute she was the jewel of the Northwest house hold and now she wasn’t even a Northwest. It gave her time to walk around on her own though, without her father’s overbearing eyes. She had inherited her mother’s blue eyes, but she didn’t know where she got her blonde hair from. Her grandmother would say that when she got older it go brown then gray. She really hoped not.

She had learned a lot about Gravity Falls without her parents always calling her to their side. She had discovered her family were frauds on her own. She found a secret room proving her entire family was filled with liars, cheats, and murderers. She discovered living golf balls in the abandoned putt-golf park. She found manotaurs. Escaped a marriage with gnomes. But when she walked alone through town, she felt like it was more quiet than usual. As if half of the people were gone. But that was just crazy, right?

She had been wandering around for a while when she saw Mabel and some kid running as fast as they could towards the Mystery Shack.

_Déjà vu._

She shook her head, no way. She’s never even seen that kid before. But why did her heart race to see that stupid blue pine tree baseball cap? And what was Mabel doing with him? Running? From who? She walked towards them, but froze when Robbie hit the corner. His eyes were yellow with black slits and Mabel and Baseball Cap were long gone. He looked left then right, then he saw her. “You! Purple!”

“Excuse me?” she took a step back. If Mabel was running away from her own brother, something wasn’t right.

“Purple, did you see two kids run by this way?”

“Y-yeah.” She stammered.

“Great, which way?” he asked, the pep in his step was very unlike Robbie.

She pointed behind her, the opposite direction. “That way. They were freaking out, said get to the Northwest Mansion? It was weird.” She lied. _Sorry Mom and Dad, but it’s not like you’re home anyway. Or that Robbie could even get in the gates._ She briskly walked off as Robbie jogged to her house. By time he would even realize they weren’t there, he’d be across town and have to run all the way back.

She normally wouldn’t help Mabel Pines- Valentino. Why would she think that? Pines. The pine trees must be throwing off her train of thought. Anyway, she normally wouldn’t help Mabel V., but if you’re running away from your own brother with weird eyes, well something was up. And Pacifica wanted to know what.

\---

Mabel opened the door to the Mystery Shack, thanking Soos it was left open. She shoved Dipper in front of her and shut the door behind her. Soos was sweeping the floor and smiled at them, “Hey Dudes.” He stopped. Confusion started to litter his face, the two Pines kids being together was going to give everyone headaches. Soos didn’t have any memories of Weirdmagedon, he was with everybody else when it happened. Being a hero, that no one would ever know about. Just her Grunkle Stan, Ford, and her had any memories left of what happened. And with one of them crazy, it wasn’t great company.

“Hey Soos, can you grab Mr. Pines?” She couldn’t call him Grunkle, not in front of Dipper. “Stan! Grab me Mr. STAN Pines.”

“There is only one ‘Mr. Pines’, back here. Why are you being so weird?” Dipper pushed her grip off his wrist as Soos left into the living room.

“Dipper, why can’t you just go home?” she asked, “It would make life a lot easier. I can’t do all that I’m doing and watch over some stupid kid.”

“I’m fourteen, the same age as you. There is something weird going on back here and I’m going to figure it out-,”

“Dipper, you’re crazy. Your parents sent you here because you talk to yourself. Everyone in town knows about it.” She lied. She needed Dipper to go home and get out of her hair, “Why else would Wendy bring you on a date to the movies with her boyfriend?”

Why did she do that? Just help some random strange kid that belonged to her boss? It wasn’t like Bill’s changed Wendy. The Wendy she had dealt with for the last two years only cared about Robbie in every single way.

“Everyone?” Dipper’s voice dropped to an inaudible whisper.

“Everyone.” Mabel confirmed, “Now, can you please stay here and stay out of my way?”

Stan walked in, glaring at Mabel, “How is that any better than telling him the truth?”

“The truth? The truth?! You’re preaching honesty? Get out of my face.” She shoved Dipper towards him, “Keep him out of my way. If he messes up one more thing; I’ll take care of him myself.” She plugged in the code to the vending machine and slipped behind the door, slamming it shut behind her.

“There’s a… door there?” she heard Dipper ask. She’d be pissed if Grunkle Stan explained everything to him just because he had gone soft. She threw on her Dipper outfit and headed downstairs. Ford was looking much better now than he did earlier.

“Hey, Grunkle Ford.” She smiled at him, “How’s it coming along?”

“Dipper!” his eyes brightened as he handed his work off to Mabel. She took it and started reading it. More doodles of her younger self. She tried to focus on the math, but froze. It was a picture of her next to the portal, and next to it said Alive?

“Grunkle… Ford? What’s this?” she pointed to the picture.

He shook his head, “A theory. A theory. I thought that if I could switch the portal’s operations, when we turn it on we could get Mabel back.”

“But we’re trying to get rid of Bill.” She said slowly, staring at the huge metal circle collecting dust.

“But if we could get rid of Bill and get Mabel back, it would be a win-win.”

“Let’s focus on Bill, Grunkle Ford. And worry about Mabel later.” She touched his shoulder. Dipper would have agreed to it. He would have tossed getting rid of Bill away to get her back. She couldn’t afford that kind of emotional connection. That’s why she was here and Dipper… well, he was upstairs, where he wasn’t supposed to be.

She heard someone come down the stairs; she looked up and saw Stan.

“We’re working.” She said.

“I know, but someone one is here to see you and I don’t think Soos can answer her questions.”

“Well, whoever it is. Tell them I’m busy.”

“It’s Pacifica.” Stan urged.

Grunkle Ford laughed, “Finally getting a girlfriend are you? I was scared all of this was ruining your social life! Go and see her, son! I’m getting along alright.”

“I don’t need to see her now,” Mabel said between her teeth, “We need to get this portal working as soon as possible.”

“Dipper...” Stan called her, or was he calling the other Dipper. Not the other Dipper, the real Dipper. This was getting to be too much too quickly.

“Fine. I’ll be right back. Grunkle Ford? Don’t move.”

“Haven’t for two years son, don’t plan on doing it now.” She headed upstairs, quickly shedding the Dipper outfit and putting hers on in the elevator.

“What?” she asked as she came out from behind the vending machine. They needed a back-up door.

“There’s a door there?” she asked.

“That’s what I said!” Dipper proclaimed.

“And I don’t care.” Mabel snapped, “What do you want Pacifica? Mystery Shack is closed.”

“I want to know why you were running away from your brother, who by the way-- has yellow eyes. Is he diseased?”

“Sort of…” Mabel nodded, “Actually yes. Yes he is. No one should talk to him. At all! It’s contagious and possibly fatal. We were trying to contain it, but it… uh… failed. So if you could tell everyone in town to ignore Robbie and avoid him at all costs, that would be great!”

“Wouldn’t that mean you might catch it? You lived with him.” Dipper asked.

“If we wanted your logical quips, we would have asked.” Mabel snapped back.

“This would all be easier if we just told them the truth-,” Stan said softly.

Mabel sighed, “The last time we told the truth, it was a mess I don’t want to clean up again.” She opened the door to kick out Pacifica, when a tall, scrawny, blonde teenager burst through panting. His clothes were dirty and ripped, his blue eyes were wide with fear.

“He’s back.”

“What?” Dipper asked.

“This just keeps getting weirder.” Pacifica took a step away from him.

“Who are you?” Mabel asked.

“Gideon. Gideon Gleeful. Bill. He’s back. He’s in his castle-,”

“I’m going get food.” Stan walked away, and Mable cursed him for leaving her with three teenagers and a lot of confusion. Gideon was a short, chubby kid last time she had seen him two years ago. But now he had grown. But how? Where? She thought he was dead.

“How did you survive?” she asked.

\---

Gideon and his henchmen raced their monster trucks towards the castle. The sky was ripped open and Gideon would prove his love to Mabel. She would love him once he learned of his sacrifice. It didn’t matter if she would or not anyway, she’d be alive and he’d be… well, dead, once Bill was done with him.

Bill’s henchmen fell on them in seconds and they never stood a chance. They were wrangled up and brought to the castle. His lucky henchmen were turned to stone and added to Bill’s throne. The unlucky ones were eaten by Bill’s henchmen. But Gideon was turned into the court jester.

But then Bill got the alert that Mabel got out of her bubble and he threw Bill into a cell, “I’ll come back to you.” And most of the monsters left. Bill with his golden human trophy.

The castle crashed to the ground and stone people cracked and broke. The monsters who had stayed tried to get out, but there was no way in, or out. They ate each other, fighting each other all while Gideon hid away. He marked each day that passed. Or that he thought had passed. He couldn’t be sure. As he got older, he tried to find ways out, but it was pointless. He was attacked on occasion and he brutally murdered the monsters. He’d started finding out where they slept and ripping them apart. Anything to make sure they were dead. Anything. 

Then he was alone. He talked to the statues, hoping to find some way to unfreeze them. But there was nothing. They were dead. All of them. Years alone in a dark demon’s palace. He figured he would die in this place. He had accepted that he would never see a living thing again, until he saw Robbie walk through the front entrance. He almost yelled out for the tall man, but then he turned and Gideon hid in the shadows. Yellow eyes. Eyes he had hoped to never see again. Eyes he had thought he was safe from. No way in or out, he thought. He followed the wall and jetted through the closing front entrance. 

Bill was back, he needed to tell the Pines. He needed to tell Dipper, Dipper would know what to do. He ran, faster than he ever had, to the Mystery Shack.

\---

Bill waited at the Northwest Gates. No one was there. He was tricked by that blonde brat. He’d deal with her like he dealt with her father. Painfully. 

He wandered around the mansion, the forest. He couldn’t get into the Mystery Shack, that much he remembered. They warded against him, but they would have to leave sometime. That’s how he caught them last time. He smiled, just where he thought he left it. His palace. He knocked, “Anyone there?” he hated the sound of his voice, the sound of Robbie’s voice. He needed a new vessel. But not just any vessel. He wanted a Pines. He would make sure of it. 

He leaned on the castle wondering how to get in, but the door flew open. “Convenient.” He said with a grin and waltzed in. Empty. Broken statues and dead monsters. He sighed, they probably killed each other. There was always a chance of that with monsters, always so ready to kill. The door shut behind him as he stretched, time to fix this place up. He would get this place back to its former glory before the Pine’s kids could say Mystery Twins.

\--- 

Stan brought food into the gift shop. Everyone was sitting on the floor. Gideon dug into the food, “Thanks, Mr. Pines. You have no idea the last time I ate… real food.” 

“What was there to eat in there?” Pacifica asked. 

“You don’t want to know.” Gideon shuddered, but went back to eating. 

Mabel handed him her plate. “You’re free to stay here.” She said, “You’re parents won’t recognize you.”

“Well, I’m not leaving.” Pacifica said quickly, “If Robbie is some dream demon and this is the only safe place, I’m staying here.”

“Alright.” Mabel sighed, “You both can sleep in the living room.” She stood up.

“You’re not going back to the Valentino place are you?” Stan asked. 

“You mean her house?” Pacifica asked. Stan looked at Mabel, she sighed, 

“No. I’m not going home. I’m just taking a walk. I’m not used to…,” _Being with people? Not following the summer script? Seeing Dipper? Feeling alive?_ She headed towards the door. Gideon looked as if he hadn’t slept in ages, and he probably hadn’t. Pacifica helped him towards the living room. Dipper headed up the stairs. 

Stan stopped Mabel, “Mabel, you can have your old room back if you want it.”

“That place isn’t my room anymore Grunkle Stan. It hasn’t been for two years. I’ll be back later.” And she was out the door. 

Dipper waited for Stan to head into the living room to make sure the other two were fine and then Dipper dashed out after Mabel. She was hiding something from him. She called him Grunkle. She looked just like him. They had the same bracelet. She looked like all the pictures he would draw when he was bored in class. She was important to him, but why wouldn’t she just tell him? Maybe they were cousins or something? He kept his distance behind her in the darkness. She stopped by a big tree and sighed as she opened it, “Please be a good Reset.”

She walked into the tree bunker. He quickly followed, this place just got weirder and weirder. _What the Hell is a Reset?_ He thought as the doors closed behind him.


	3. Endless Mabel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper follows Mabel into the forest to learn the truth about the two. What he finds is so much weirder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're... still here? Wow. Um. Thanks. Keep going? 
> 
> <3

_Bill and Mabel stood inches from each other. She held the blind gun in her hand, aiming it at Bill’s face._

_“You think that’ll work on me?” he cackled._

_She pulled the trigger. She flew back, landing on top of Dipper, was that a breath? Was he okay? She rolled over to him and felt his face, “D-Dipper?” her world was getting darker._

_A hand landed on her shoulder, “I made a deal, Mabel.” Ford whispered into her ear, “You’re both going to be okay.” S_

_he looked up into her Grunkle’s eyes and tears burned her eyes, “You just ruined everything.”_

_And her world went dark._

\---

Every two months there was the Reset. Everybody forgot everything that ever happened throughout the summer and they start summer over again. Robbie asks Wendy on a date to the movies. Grenda and Candy invite Mabel to see Sev’ral Times. Mabel hated the band now, two years of the same stupid movie and songs over and over again. One day she would actually like to watch the scary movie Robbie and Wendy always got to watch.

All the work people have done get erased to the point it was before the Reset. Including all the work on the portal. It took Mabel, Ford, and Stan three months to realize how they were losing all their work. So they started writing it out on their bodies. Their bodies didn’t reset like paper work, or movies, or anything like that. So when the day of the Reset the Pines’ family were writing on each other all of the work they had figured out.

But with the Reset meant everything that Dipper had fixed, would break. And that meant that Mabel had to go and fix it.

Like Shifter. It wasn’t that Shifter was a huge problem. In fact, he was safely tucked away in the bunker. But in the beginning of the endless summer without Dipper, she remembered that Shifter was frozen was in Dipper’s shape. So she ran to the bunker and found an empty tube. The Shifter didn’t remember fighting her, but they fought regardless. And then it started changing into all sorts of shapes, and she screamed for Dipper to help her. But he was gone. But Dipper’s name triggered something in Shifter’s mind and it changed into Dipper. She froze. He was there.

“D-Dipper.” She wanted to reach out and hug her brother, but he lunged for her. She screamed again and fought him off, pushing him into the tube. But with no one to quickly push a button, she had to fight harder and longer and knock out her brother’s shape. She ran into the room and waited for him to wake up as Dipper. The minute he woke up, she smiled and pushed the button. He was frozen, Dipper was there, and she would sit in front of his frozen shape and talk. Every day she would go up and talk to her brother. Tell him how her day went. She would lay down and stare at the dusty metal ceiling and reminisce. But then, with the Reset, he would unfreeze. And she would do it all over again. Over time, she had it down to a song and dance. And she would push Shifter into the tube, “Dipper.” She would say. It would change into twelve year old Dipper and then she would knock him out. And wait. Every two months.

But this Reset was different. Ford was going more crazy than usual and Stan was going soft, bringing Dipper into Gravity Falls. Which she still wasn’t sure how he did it. But now she had to deal with Shifter. Not because he needed to be dealt with, but because she needed to talk to her brother.

“Dipper, you won’t believe what’s happened this week. This week?” she laughed as she prepared her conversation with her frozen Dipper, “Just today was crazy!” her voice echoed off the metal walls, “Bill woke up. How, you ask? Well, you’re stupid butt came back. I don’t know how or why, but you did. Mom and Dad can’t follow any kind of instructions, huh?” she sighed, “Then Pacifica shows up! Then Gideon! Gideon! You remember him, right? He’s taller. Less chunky. Less… crazy. Well, that’s not true. He’s like me. He remembers everything.” She stopped in the control room and stared at the open tube, “Let me get you back in your tube, and we’ll finish this conversation.” She let herself into the room and whistled for Shifter. It came out in it’s dark, monster form. But it wasn’t looking at her, the way it always did. It was looking behind her. She slowly turned and stared at Dipper, frozen in fear at the monster in front of them.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” she yelled at him, “GO HOME!”

“What is that thing?” he asked. He screamed and she turned around and quickly dodged the attack.

She screamed, “DIPPER! DIPPER!” To make Shifter easier to fight, it was more difficult with Dipper standing there like a useless meatbag. But Shifter didn’t change into her brother. Into twelve year old Dipper. It changed into the fifteen year old across the room. She screamed in rage and knocked it out. Shoving it into the tube and ran to into the control room and clicked freeze.

“Wh-what was that?” Dipper followed her into the room.

“You ruin absolutely everything. You know that? I had everything under control! Everything had a rhythm!” she snapped. She pointed at Shifter, “He may never change into my brother again.”

“But… that was me…” he said slowly.

She took a deep breath, “Yeah. Yeah, it was.” She shook her plastic, homemade bracelet, “I gave you mine.” She pointed at his wrist, “I gave it to you because I was stupid. I wanted you to come back when you remembered on your own. When you remembered all of this and you had some idea of how to stop everything. I thought you would go home and wake up and freak out and rush back.”

“I woke up and had no idea where my summer went. Mom and Dad said that I went camping and there was a bad accident. They didn’t talk about it. All kinds of stuff were packed away into boxes.” He shoved his fists into his pockets.

Mabel sighed. “Right. And that was a possibility. You never remembering Gravity Falls. Or me.”

“We’re… mystery twins?” he asked.

She nodded, “Yeah. Mystery twins. Dad kept complaining that you didn’t go outside enough. Kept saying all you did was play video games all day. So they sent you off to Grunkle Stan, because he was smart and tough and lived in the middle of nowhere. Mom was going to send me to art camp, but you were so freaked out about being on your own. So I chose to go with you. And we had such a blast here! We had so many adventures and so much fun. And you’ll never remember any of it.” She started to head out the door, “Come on. Grunkle Stan will get worried if you’re out and he doesn’t know you’re with me.”

“Does everyone really know I’m crazy?” he asked as he followed behind her.

“You’re not crazy. People just think you are.” She replied back flatly, “You see things that people don’t want to see. Blank pages and stuff like that?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. It’s something weird. I have it to. I think Bill did it to us when Ford-,” she stopped mid-sentence, “I don’t know. But it’s not crazy. Just… weird.”

“So you lied to me?”

“To get you to leave and go home so you didn’t ruin all my hard work? Yes. But too late now. Shifter is fifteen year old you now. And Gideon is free from the palace, I’m sure Bill will notice that eventually. And Bill is free. Well, not free exactly, but-,”

“Why does Bill hate us so much? What did we do-,”

“We defeated him in Grunkle Stan’s mind. But he’s crazy, so who really knows.” Mabel shrugged. She avoided bringing up Ford. She was telling him everything already, but how would Ford react to being lied to.

“Well, that’s comforting.” Dipper finished. She wasn’t isteneing to him. Two years without her brother and she finally gets him back and she doesn’t even listen to him. She yells at him and tries to kick him out.

“Do you want to watch Duck-tective?” she asked. She hadn’t seen that show in years. Did it still air? It would in Gravity Falls, the same episodes she had already seen. But that’s what normal people did. They watched t.v., and it would appease Grunkle Stan.

“Isn’t that a kids’ show?”

“We used to watch it all the time.” She said quietly.

“Then let’s do it.”

“Really?” she asked.

He grabbed her hand, “Yeah. Whatever is going on, we’ll get through this, together.”

She smiled at him and she had never felt so light walking through the forest at night. Dipper was telling her some mundane story about high school that had her laughing through her nose. He laughed at the way she laughed and together they pushed open the door to the Mystery Shack,

“And then I told her: it’s not moonrock! It’s cheese!” he finished his story. She wiped the tears from her face, she didn’t remember laughing so much.

“Mabel?” she heard Ford’s voice break through the laughs. She froze and stared at her Grunkle Ford. He reached out to her and smiled, “Mabel! You’re alive! I thought- did Dipper? Dipper you found her? You worked through my notes and figured out how to get her back?”

“Portal?” Dipper asked as Ford hugged Mabel. Guilt weighed her down like a brick. She pushed the old man off,

“I was never really… dead, Grunkle Ford.” She said quietly. She knew this would happen. But today? So much had already happened in one day and she was so tired. Grunkle Stan walked into the room in his slippers and yawned, “You finally back Mabel?-,” and stopped mid-step.

“You knew about this?” Ford asked quietly, “That she was alive?”

“Ford-,”

“Grunkle Ford.” Mabel interrupted, “You remember before? When I went downstairs, the last time you saw me? You told me I didn’t belong down there and that Dipper would be able to figure everything out. He was the brains and I was the creativity.”

“It was one of the last things I ever said to you. I... I barely remember it.” He looked at his shoes.

“Well, I needed to get down there and all you wanted was a way to get Dipper back. So that’s what I did. I got Dipper back. I was Dipper so we could get our work done. Once we got rid of Bill, I would have told you. I didn’t think this would all happen so quickly-,”

“You… you pretended to be your missing brother because I was a stubborn old man.” Ford shook his head, “After everything I’ve done to help create this mess.” He looked at Dipper and shook his head, “I’m sorry son. I don’t even know you, do I?” and shuffled away. Stan went after him, ready to help try and heal what little he could.

“You pretended to be me?”

“Every day for two years. Don’t worry about. Stan pretended to be his brother for way longer.” She headed to the vending machine, “But come see.”

“See what?” he asked, ready to follow her anywhere.

“The Portal.” She opened the door and Dipper walked in front of her, staring at the outfit she wore. She touched the vest and put on the hat, smiling at him, “I look just like you, right? It’s like you’re looking right at Shifter!” she turned the hat backwards and pushed three on the elevator. It was almost freeing to go downstairs as herself.

“So, what’s the Portal do?” he asked.

“It’s pretty much a door that opens to other dimensions. That’s how Bill got here. Well, he was summoned first, but it helps I think. I really don’t know much about it except that if I push Bill through that Portal I can get rid of him for good. At least, for now anyway.” They walked out of the elevator and he walked towards the glass that separated the portal from them. She handed him the journal of math, “Are you still any good at math?” she asked.

He smiled at her, “Any good? Please, I’m in honors courses.”

“I have no idea what that means.” She said as he took the book, “Just look at it and help me fix it.”

They sat down at the metal desk and poured over the equations, together.

\---

Gideon woke up screaming. He was covered in sweat and balled into the corner of a room. What room? This wasn’t a palace room. He was breathing heavy as he pulled himself up. How could he let himself scream like that? Was he trying to attract attention? How long had he been asleep for?

“Are you okay?” he heard a voice across the darkness. A light blinded him, he squinted trying to look at the monster that was about to eat him. “Gideon?” she asked again, quietly, “Hey, are you okay?” he blinked a few times and took in the Pines’ living room. His back was against the wall, a blanket tangled around his feet. Pacifica’s blonde hair was out of its ponytail and falling every which way around her face. She got off the recliner and dragged her blanket with her to his corner and sat next to him, “Listen, you’re safe here. Okay? You’re safe.” She laid down next to him and fell asleep. He laid down and closed his eyes. Thankful she left the lamp on as he fell back to sleep.

\---

Bill searched through every single room and there was not a living thing left. He thought he would still have Gideon stuck in here, but maybe the kid got out. Or got eaten. Probably eaten. He hated Robbie’s body, it was weak. These stone statues were heavy, before - Well, he had someone else doing all the heavy lifting before. He sighed, how did one family mess up his plans so badly? He should have just killed them off in the beginning. He was too nice back then.

Now he meant business.


	4. Ford's Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford makes a deal with his arch nemesis, but at a steep cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What up dawgs? You still chillin' 'round these here parts? Like, I got to give it to you, you're committed. I really hope this isn't letting you down.  
> I'm trying my best to keep you happy.  
> *whispers* I love youuuuuuu.  
> <3

“NO!” Ford yelled as he watched Dipper fall from Bill’s hands. Dipper’s limp body crashed to the ground.

“Stanford Filbrick Pines. There you are.” Bill smiled as he leveled with Ford, “Do you like what I’ve- sorry- what we’ve done with the place?”

“You just killed my great nephew. Dipper had nothing to do with this.”

“He tried to stop us and our grand plan, Sixer. Shooting Star is next and with those two kids out of the way, nothing can stop me. Crazy, huh? That two kids are the only thing keeping me from world domination.”

“Please, Bill. They’re just kids.”

“Are you trying to strike a deal with me, Sixer?” Bill circled Ford.

“Yes. Let them live and-,”

“And what? What can I get from you, Sixer? I’ve got everything I want.” He laughed. Mabel’s scream pierced the forest. Ford winced and Bill laughed,

“I’ve got more power than you do, Sixer.” 

“Let Dipper live and… and…” he struggled for something to give the dream demon.

“And they stay separated. I’ll take Pine Tree’s memories as payment. If you break the deal, I’ll take Shooting Star’s life. Can you do that?”

Ford stared at Dipper and offered his hand, they wouldn’t forgive him for this. But he couldn’t let the kids die. Not if they were the only thing that could stop Bill. He’d have to tell Mabel she could never see her brother. Bill shook Ford’s hand and the blue flame sealed their fates. Bill flew to Mabel, to separate the two. She stood up, she was beaten. She was broken. She had the memory gun, where did she get that? When did she get that? She aimed it at the demon and fired. The blast bounced off Bill. Ford ran to Mabel.

“I made a deal, Mabel. You’re both going to be okay.” Tears burned her eyes as she glared at him,

“You just ruined everything.” She blacked out, falling on top of her brother. Her breathing brother. He smiled and picked up Dipper. He needed to separate them. He would come back and shoot Mabel with the gun to erase Dipper from her memories. They would live happy lives. At least, happy childhoods.

He only walked a few steps when Bill was in front of him, “How’s Shooting Star going to feel when she knows you took her brother away from her?”

“Why does it matter to you Bill?”

“Because I still need a vessel. A human vessel. To blend better.” His triangular form disappeared and Mabel woke up with yellow eyes. Ford clutched Dipper with new fear. Mabel smiled at him,

“So willing to trade one twin for the other?”

“I wasn’t trading. I was coming back for her. Don’t use her as a vessel, please-,”

“Another deal?”

Ford sighed. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Bill-Mabel laughed,

“No deal? Huh? Listen, I can kill either of these kids with a snap of my fingers. If Pine Tree dies, you’ll break apart. Nothing will get done. Shooting Star will break too. Everybody will break. Kill Shooting Star and Dipper will break and Stan will break. But you won’t.”

“That’s not true. You can’t know that.”

“All knowing dream demon! I know a lot more than you do, Sixer.”

“I’ll find you somebody else. Somebody stronger than a twelve year old girl. Just give me time to separate the twins.”

Ford ran through people to offer Bill too. Bill-Mabel nodded,

“I’ll stay right in this meat suit, until you give me something better. A good incentive to hurry up. Who knows what could happen while you’re gone keeping care of the favorite.”

Ford turned around and ran. He’d keep this from Mabel. He’d keep it from everyone. He’d tell them some made up lie. He threw Dipper in the back seat of Stan’s rundown car and drove out of town through the crack in the dome that no one knew about behind the shack. He drove and drove and drove to Shirley’s kid’s place. He knocked on the door.

“Dipper!” his mother cried.

“Where’s Mabel?” his father asked. Stan shook his head,

“She passed away in a car accident.” He lied, “Dipper cries every time you mention her name. I think it’s best to take down all of her pictures and never talk about her. Ever.”

Their mother took Dipper and cradled him in her arms. Their father nodded his head,

“Thank you.”

“Mabel’s funeral-,” the woman looked up from her sleeping son.

“It’s best that Dipper doesn’t see it. It has to be closed casket. Its- I’m sorry.” And he turned and left. Mabel will never be able to see her parents again. Or her brother. He drove back into Gravity Falls and ran to the center of town and Mabel stood in the middle of the street, the memory gun in her hands, and aimed it at Ford.

“Bill-,”he slowed to a stop.

“Hello Sixer. Mabel had this deal she made with me before all this. For an Endless Summer.” He smiled, “I think I’ll deliver on that deal. I don’t want people thinking I don’t follow through with my deals. Now, where’s my replacement suit?” she aimed the gun at her own head and Ford ran into a house and searched the place for people. Any people.

Robbie was cowering behind the couch. “I thought you got taken-,”

“I got away. It’s better no one knows I’m here.”

“Listen,” Ford sighed, “I-I-I’m here to bring you to-,”

“Wendy? Is she alright?” Robbie stood up and Ford nodded.

“Yes. Yes. Wendy. Wendy is fine. She misses you and I’m here to bring you to her.”

“I knew she would take me back!” Robbie followed Ford outside. Robbie froze and Bill-Mabel smiled.

“That’s my sacrifice? A teenager?”

“Better than a twelve year old girl.”

“Sacrifice?”

Bill-Mabel sighed, “Listen kid. I won’t kill you. I need a suit. I wear you and you get whatever you want.”

“Wendy…” he said quietly. But not quietly enough. Bill-Mabel was walking towards him with a huge smile,

“Done. She’s yours. All you have to do is shake my hand kid and you get Red all to yourself.”

Robbie shook Mabel’s hand and they both collapsed. Robbie seized and Ford held him down as he waited for Mabel to wake up. It felt like ages before Mabel took a huge breath. She looked around and locked eyes with Ford. He smiled softly at her, “Hey Mabel. Are you-,”

“I made a deal.” She said as she stood up. She was reserved as if she was talking to a stranger and not her great uncle. She looked at Robbie and sighed, “He told me what you did. Getting rid of Dipper’s memories. Separating us. I made a deal that he had to sleep in Robbie’s mind and could wake up when Dipper comes back.”

“But Dipper won’t come back-,”

“That’s the point.” She snapped. This Mabel was different, she was angry, firm, “But Bill says we’re bound to meet up again. So you fix the crack in the dome. No one in or out.”

“We’ll be stuck here.”

“Someone has to watch Gravity Falls and-,” she looked at Robbie’s sleeping body, “Bill. We can’t let him wake up.” She looked back at Ford, “Everyone should be asleep. All we have to do is give a good lie and continue on.”

“Mabel, he said he put us on an endless summer-,”

“We’ll work that out when we get to it. Let’s find Grunkle Stan and Soos.” She walked towards the shack and Ford followed. If Dipper never came back into town, then Mabel would never die. Everything would be fine. Right?

\---

“Ford? I brought STAN CAKES!” Mabel came out of the elevator and into the portal room. Ford sighed at the annoyance,

“Mabel, if I wanted food I’d go upstairs and get some! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Well, let me help. Grunkle Stan says-,”

“Mabel, you can’t help down here! Dipper was my apprentice and I lost him for you. For you! You can’t do anything down here. Go play with your glitter and pig.”

There was a moment of silence. Mabel slammed the plate of pancakes on the table next to him, “Waddles died during Weirdmageddon. Not that you’d know. No one asked you to save me over Dipper.” She reached into her pocket and threw glitter everywhere. Another handful. And another, until all of the glitter in her pocket was gone.

“Happy?” she asked, “I played with glitter and a pig.” She went upstairs. The next month she tried to help, he looked down on her again. But he would barely eat, or shower. He kept mumbling things about Dipper and she sighed. So she shot him with the memory gun while she was dressed as Dipper.

“What-where am I?” he asked.

“We’re working on the Portal Grunkle Ford.” Mabel, dressed as Dipper, told him, “You just fell over from a head ache.”

“Where’s your sister?” he asked. Mabel shook her head,

“Did you forget, Grunkle Ford? Mabel died in a car accident. You and me, we’re going to stop Bill by shoving him into the portal once we get it working again.”

Ford smiled and clapped the boy on the back, “Alright then! Let’s get back to work!” Mabel nodded and wondered after they shoved Bill through the portal how she would ever explain this to Grunkle Ford. Not that it mattered what he thought of her now, this is what he wanted. Dipper. Everyone wanted Dipper. Even she wanted Dipper.

 

Ford shot awake. He was asleep in the secret room, as Soos called it. He rubbed his temples from the looming headache. He had weird dreams all the time, but that didn’t feel like a dream - it felt real. And he didn’t need any confirmation. Stan had helped break down everything after Mabel and Dipper walked through the door. He had assumed only Dipper could help him. But Mabel had done so much. Even now he didn’t understand how she made a deal with Bill while both Robbie and Mabel’s bodies were asleep. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was Mabel’s life was at stake. They had reunited and if Bill remembered the deal, the twins’ lives were in serious danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone who made it this far!!!! I'm working on Chapter five now and it should be posted by at least tomorrow! Thanks for reading and stay perfect <3


	5. Forgotten Terms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel comes to terms with what she has to do to save Gravity Falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking around. <3

 

_Mabel tackled Bill. He fell back with surprise._

_“Shooting Star-,”_

_“Shut up. Where’s Dipper?”_

_“Pine Tree is fine. No memories, like Stanford asked for.”_

_“No-what?”_

_“Stanford made a deal. Dipper’s memories for his life. Seemed too easy right? So the next part was to separate you two. The minute you reunite, you die.”_

_“How do you get anything from that?” she asked._

_“I get to see Stanford Pines in pain.”_

_“Then I have a better deal.” She said, “You go to sleep until Dipper comes back and then you can have Ford.”_

_“Dipper will come back.”_

_“I know.”_

_“When he does you die and Ford dies.”_

_“Then you have nothing to lose by going to sleep, do you?”_

_She offered her hand and he laughed as they sealed the deal._

_“See you soon, kid.”_

_She fell back into her body and looked around, locking eyes with the man who may have just ruined her life._

_\---_

 

Mabel woke up in her childhood bed. She stretched and looked over at Dipper still asleep. They had stayed up nearly all night working on the portal. He found the entire idea exciting, she almost wanted to give him one of the old journals and watch him learn all over again. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“You can’t outrun a deal, Mabel.” She sighed. She really thought she would never see him again. How the Hell did he get back here if Ford fixed the Dome? She got out of bed and walked downstairs. Stan was cooking breakfast.

“All you do is cook now-a-days, you know that?” she asked.

“Well, I’ve got my family back.” He said, “And then some. It’s quiet without you kids making a mess and breaking everything.”

Mabel sat quietly and shook her head as he shoved a plate towards her. He glared at her,

“You can’t lie to me, Mabel Pines. I don’t think you eat when you’re not here. Robbie doesn’t pay that much attention to you.”

“I’m fine.” _There’s no point anyway. If we don’t get rid of Bill, I’m a dead girl anyway._ “I would like some tea though.”

“I’ll start a kettle for you.” He mumbled something else about eating more food. To make him happy she grabbed a piece of greasy bacon and started to nibble.

“Thanks, Grunkle Stan. It’s good.”

“You’re being nice to me because I’m getting old.” He sat down next to her and grabbed a piece of bacon too. They ate in silence and she could hear people waking up around the house. The floor creaked and she started to stand, but he grabbed her hand.

“Eat with them? With us? It’s not easy for me either, with all these people after years of practically solitude.”

She sat back down slowly, “I’ll try to stay.”

“That’s all I would ever ask, Mabel.” She leaned on her Grunkle’s shoulder and for the first time in years her heart truly ached to be with him. She closed her eyes and could remember being twelve again, before all this mess had ever started.

“God, that smells fantastic, Mr. Pines.” She heard Gideon break through her happy memories. She sat up and nodded,

“It tastes good too.” He served Gideon a large helping, which was fine. She didn’t plan on eating more than her one piece of bacon anyway.

“You look good for Weirdmegeddon.” Gideon said, his mouth filled with food.

“That’s attractive.” She mumbled under her breath.

“Hmm?” he asked as he wiped the crumbs from his mouth.

“Nothing. Uh, thanks.” She said, realizing that she had no idea how to talk to people that didn’t follow the script. Sure, her Grunkles were one thing. They were her family, but everyone else. She practically had the same conversation for two years with the same people over and over again and now she had no idea what she was doing socially.

Well, she was socially awkward when she was twelve too. So, there was something that had never changed.

“I’ve got some clothes upstairs and a shower. Should have offered that to you last night, kiddo.” Stan stood up. “I’ll grab you some stuff.” He left her alone with Gideon. She was going to kill him.

“So…” Gideon put down his food and swallowed slowly, “What’s it been like out here?”

“The same. It never changes.”

“I hear that’s all small towns.” He said with a smile and she smiled back,

“Yeah. I guess so.” She wiped her palms on her lap and stood up as Pacifica walked into the room, “I’m going to go… change and stuff. Busy day.” She looked at the blonde girl. Pacifica looked as if she had never slept on the floor before, she probably hadn’t, her hair was a tangled mess and sleep marks covered her slightly freckled face.

“Want me to grab you some clothes?” she asked Pacifica. Pacifica just nodded and sat next to Gideon, picking at the bacon, as he returned to pigging out.

Mabel headed upstairs and dig through her dresser drawer for two pairs of clothes. All these damn knitted sweaters. She pulled one out and smiled at the purple sweater with her name surrounded by stars on it. She’d wear that today. Because today she would actually get to be herself… all day.

“Is it morning?” Dipper rolled out of bed groggily.

“Food downstairs.”

“This is still weird.” He yawned.

“Yeah, I guess it would be.” She picked out an outfit for Pacifica and started towards the door.

“Mabel?” he asked as she reached for the doorknob.

“Hmm?”’ she looked back at him. His hair was flipped to where you could see his birthmark. His brown eyes matched hers and for a moment it felt like no time had passed, and that nothing wrong would happen if they stayed together.

“After all this is over, are you going to tell Mom and Dad? Come back home?”

“This place is my home now.” She said softly, “And anyway, Mom and Dad think I’m dead anyway. It’s better that way.” She walked out and dashed into the bathroom. She threw the pile of clothes on the counter and turned on the water.

Bill was awake and she was here taking a warm shower? Where was her sense of urgency? Where was her sense of anything? She jumped in the water and nearly screamed, cold. It was freezing cold.

_Hey, Shooting Star._

This time she did scream. That voice, she wrapped the shower curtain around her and looked around, but couldn’t find him. She was frozen, due to freezing water temperatures, and due to fear. How did he get in the shack? It was warded? They re-warded the shack every two months.

“You’re not real.” She slowly realized, blinking back her tears.  She let the curtain fallback to its place as she quickly washed her long, bushy hair. “It’s not real. It’s not real.” Maybe she would cut it all off, once all this was done and over with. “Not real. Not real.” She turned off the water and threw on her purple sweater and black sweat pants. “Not real.” She took a deep breath and sighed at her reflection, “But you are.” Throwing a towel on top of her head she headed down stairs and tossed the extra clothes to Pacifica,

“There. Clothes. Enjoy the hand-me-downs of hand-me-downs.”

Pacifica nodded and headed off, leaving Mabel alone with Gideon in his new clothes. A raggy t-shirt and mesh shorts. The out-fit didn’t look much better than his last one, but it was clean… sort of.

“So what’s the game plan about Bill?” he asked. She sighed,

“I have to get the portal working again, then we unward the shack, bring Robbie-Bill here, and figure it out past that point.” _We push him in. No questions asked. We literally murder Robbie._

She rubbed her hand against her tattoo, and stretched, “I’m getting to work. You and Pacifica… keep an eye on Dipper. Don’t let him leave alone. Don’t let him leave at all. If he asks where I am, tell him… girl things? Girl things.” She headed outside.

“But where are you headed?”

“Just… some fresh air.”

\---

Bill left his palace feeling more and more emotional about being stopped by two kids. Not the teary emotion, but the red emotion. The pure anger that fill humans up so much it blinded them. That’s what he felt.

The last part of Weirdmagedon was a blur, really. He had some deals, he knew that much, but he didn’t know what deals were what. But the Pines family had a lot of deals, and he was pretty sure Pine Tree was the huge prize.

He was walking down the street, looking for some kind of map to lead him back to the Mystery Shack when he saw Red texting as she crossed the street.

“Where’s the Mystery shack?” he asked.

“Robbie!” she ran up to him and kissed him. Bill stepped back,

“What?”

“I’ve been looking for you all night. You just walked away, and I can’t find Mabel or Dipper anywhere. Mr. Pines is going to kill me. I just lost his nephew, but I was trying to find you first-,” Bill snapped his fingers,

“There. Out of love with who-ever I made you love.” Bill walked past her, “I’ll find the shack without all that blabber.” He kept walking towards the forest, being his triangular form was much more efficient than this. It was a crappy deal trading into one of these meat suits, he didn’t plan on doing it again.

\---

Wendy’s world was spinning and then it stopped. She fell to her knees and vomited, unable to keep down any of her breakfast. Two months on repeat over two years and she spent them in love with Robbie? She didn’t even love Robbie. But it felt like she did, she remembered loving him. But she never really did.

She slowly got up, looking around for any sign of life in town. But if her new memories told her anything, it was that Gravity Falls was a ghost town, but it was about to be destroyed if someone didn’t stop Bill.

“Dipper!” she realized. Everyone who remembered anything would be looking for him. He had those journals, he would know what to do! She ran away from Robbie, taking the backway to the Mystery Shack.

\---

Mabel had gone outside to take a breath of fresh air. She wasn’t lying.  She had planned on going to the bunker, just to scream and scream without bothering anyone. But something felt off. She looked down the road, and her heart nearly stopped. She backed slowly into the door and let herself in, locking the door behind her.

Robbie-Bill had found his way to the Mystery Shack. She dashed to the vending machine and let herself through. The shack was warded, but the Portal wasn’t online. Nothing was going according to plan and she was not happy about it.

She grabbed a wrench and started to bang on the piece of metal junk, something Ford always told her not do, and then she heard gears turning and she was blinded by the blue light.

It was online.

Now to get Robbie-Bill inside without getting anyone killed. That would be the hard part.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six will go up tomorrow. Again, thanks so much for reading! You're perfect <3


	6. Dipper's Picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper wakes up with no memories and all he has is a picture of a girl he's never met, and pages with writing no one else can see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for continuing to read! (I'm sure you're tired of that by now!) I just want to say that I'm sorry this chapter is a little short. New Years and all. I also won't be posting a chapter tomorrow, but I'll get back into the groove this weekend! Thanks again, stay perfect <3

Dipper had woken up in his torn red shirt and gray mesh shorts. His blue vest was on the floor next to a baseball cap with a blue pine tree on it. He rolled over and groaned, he felt sick. He pulled himself up, grabbing clothes to go shower. 

The shower was warm, but he was covered in bruises. Where did he even get any of these? He through on a pair of jeans and gray shirt, heading downstairs. Boxes were piled everywhere around the house as if his parents planned on moving.

“What’s going on?” he asked. His mother looked at him and looked away, rushing off into the kitchen. His father looked back to his new paper,

“Spring cleaning. Summer is over and we’re starting off this school year a little lighter.”

“Oh. Okay.” He didn’t want to admit to his parents he had no idea what had happened over the summer. 

“Breakfast, honey.” His mother called from the kitchen. Dipper followed her voice, feeling unfamiliar in his own home. Eggs and bacon, he was disappointed, but he didn’t know why. He sat down and smiled,

“Thanks Mom.” He picked at his food, trying to prove he was fine. Not just to his parent’s, but to himself.

“So, you came home early from camp and we didn’t know what you wanted to do for your thirteenth birthday?”

“I-,” he stopped. He was planning something? Had planned something? “I don’t need anything.” He said. It’s not like he had any friends anyway. 

“Ok. Are you sure-,” his mother started, but his father interrupted,

“He said he didn’t want anything, Honey. Leave it.” He took his food into the living room. Dipper pushed his plate away,

“I’m not really hungry.” He left, unable to look his mother in the eye as he walked upstairs. Boxes littered the hallway outside a door that was covered in glitter. He pushed it open and stared at the empty room. A bed with purple covers and a white dresser. He walked in trying to imagine who might have lived in such a girly room. Something under the covers caught his eye, a picture. He bent down to pick it up and heard his parents come down the hallway. He shoved the picture into his pocket and turned to face his parents.

“Dipper, never come in here again.” His mother pulled him out gently, “It was a guest room, but that guest is gone-,” her voice shook and she sighed, “Just. Leave this room alone, okay?”

He nodded and walked back to his room. He shut his door behind him and sat on his bed finally able to look at the picture.

It was of him and a girl that looked exactly like him. She had braces and a smile that seemed to be the center of the picture. In the picture he was smiling too, and they were close. Maybe they were best friends? But the picture looked recent, how could he just forget everything that happened over the summer? It didn’t make any sense. 

He folded the picture and decided to keep it. If he would remember anything, it would have to be her first. He just knew it.

Papers littered the ground of his room, he picked them up, they seemed to be pages missing from a book. A hand written book. 

“Bill Cipher?” he stared at the first page he picked up. It was burnt at the edges and crumpled, but it was something. He dug through more of the crumpled papers for information about the girl in the picture. But one thing kept repeating itself, Gravity Falls. 

He was going to go to Gravity Falls and find out where this girl went and what happened to his memories.

He just needed a plan.

\---

“No, Stanley,” he was eavesdropping on his mother’s phone call. When this ‘Stanley’ person called they always talked about him. If he remembered anything. If he was doing okay. Adapting well to normal society. What the Hell did normal society even mean? Where was society not normal? 

Gravity Falls. That’s where Stanley was. That’s where Dipper needed to be.

“He hasn’t remembered anything.” A moment. He heard Stanley’s voice once, it was deep and raspy, like an old man’s, “I mean, he started putting up these pages everywhere. They’re blank. Blank. Yes, Stanley, blank as can be. He’s convinced there’s some kind of writing on it. Says things like Bill and Zombies and gnomes. He didn’t act this way before the accident.”

The accident. His parent’s finally told him why he felt so weird all of the time. It was a car accident. He had suffered major head trauma. Was the girl in the accident too? He didn’t ask, he was scared if he brought her up, if they found out he had her picture, they would take it away.

“Fresh air? You said that last time! And look where it got me! Look where it got Dipper. And Mabe-,” she stopped.

Mabe? Mabe what? Was that the girl? 

“I haven’t said her name in months Stan, if I say it now I’ll… I’ll just break.” Beat. “He’s more introverted than he was before with all this crazy paper nonsense! I think he’s even talking to himself now-,” beat, “My answer is no.” she hung up the phone.

He got a name. Or part of a name. Mabe. Mabe, he knew that had to be the girl in the picture. 

\---

That summer his father offered to send him to a sports camp, to toughen him up. But Dipper refused, “Art camp.” He would say.

They all argued and argued, but finally sent him to art camp. Art seemed like the place a person who loved glitter would go. Maybe someone would recognize him, would know him? His parents had transferred him to another school and if he had any friends, they definitely didn’t try to find him after the switch.

A lot of girls. A lot of them flirting with him. He just would sit and wait, but no one seemed to no anything about a Mabe.

He needed to get to Gravity Falls. But how? Stanley wanted him to go. So how to convince his parents?

His mother already thought he was crazy. If she thought he was going off the deep end then surely she would cave in a desperate rage to see him get better. 

He drew random pictures of monsters everywhere and pretended to talk to someone in his room at all times of the day. He called his ‘imaginary friend’ Bill. Bill Cipher was the name on the page and really the only name he felt a connection to. Maybe Bill was another friend he had forgotten?

It took a year for his crazy plan to work. A year of avoiding friendships, avoiding people, and constantly telling himself he was pretending to be crazy. He had to be, to get to Gravity Falls.

\---

“Stanley, I don’t know what else to do.” Beat. “Do you really think he’ll get better there? That’s where she died.”

Died. She died. She died? Dipper leaned against the wall as his heart sank. The girl in the photo, the girl he was trying to find, she was… dead?

“Fine, just fine Stan. I’ll send him, but I swear to all that is Holy if he comes back worse-,” beat, “He better come back alive, God damn you.” Beat, “Be here in a week.” She hung up the phone. Dipper’s heart raced. He was going! He was going to Gravity Falls! He would meet Stan! But… the girl, Mabe, she was… she was dead.

But now he would find out why and how and who she really was. He would get all of his answers in Gravity Falls. He’d be sure of it.

That week was the longest week. He had everything packed way in advance. The knock on the door perked him up from his room. He did a double check, bringing all of the ‘blank’, as his mother called them, pages and headed out the door. He stopped, last minute grabbing a hat he hadn’t worn in two years. If he wore it in Gravity Falls, then he would wear it when he went back.

Mr. Pines, or as he was later told Grunkle Stan, was a tall man with stuble and a ‘beer’ belly as his mother called it. He wore a suit, and a weird fez, and Dipper smiled.

He remembered him. He could remember laughing at the floor of a yellow chair watching a cartoon show with him. He could remember it, just a flash, but it was there. 

“You ready, Dipper?” he asked. Dipper put on his hat and smiled,

“I’m ready.”


	7. Bill Remembers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnnnnnnnd I'm back:) Thanks for reading. If I post this before every chapter, you'll keep reading, 'write'?
> 
> Get it? 'Write'? Right? Get it? Get... okay... okay... Here's the chapter... Jeez.

             

 

           Bill saw the Mystery Shack and smiled. He knew this place as well as his own home, back in his decaying dimension. He saw Mabel standing on the porch and his smile grew wider. She dashed inside and he sighed.

            She was going to make everything so difficult. If only there was a way to get rid of her.

 

_“And they stay separated. I’ll take Pine Tree’s memories as payment. If you break the deal, I’ll take Shooting Star’s life. Can you do that?”_

 

            A deal! That wasn’t wishful thinking, and that was a memory. His memories got all jumbled being asleep in a human mind for two years, Shooting Star was clever, even if she didn’t know that was going to happen.

            But now Pine Tree was back and deals were deals. One can’t just break a deal with a dream demon, especially not Bill Cipher. He may or not have been the reason his own dimension was falling apart, but deals were deals and he needed the fear of God, or more like the fear of Bill Cipher (same thing in his opinion) into the people’s minds. But there weren’t really any people left there, he remembered his dimension’s Pines’ family. He left them in rough shape.

            He would do the same to this Pines’ family and to every Pines’ family member throughout all the dimensions. They would regret ever messing with Bill Cipher.

            He stopped at the front porch. The house was warded against him, how… inconvenient. He searched through Robbie’s memories, what did he call Shooting Star? How did he talk to his “little sister”?

            “Mabes?” he asked, trying to sound as scared as he possibly could, “Mabes, what’s going on? How did I end up here? Mabes, are you there?” That would have to drag her to the door. It did. She was peering through the window.

            _Yellow eyes._ She mouthed through the window, pointing at her eyes. Then shook her head. Bill silently cursed, his eyes. Always giving him away. He wondered if he left now, got Robbie in and went back into this vessel if he could… No, that wouldn’t work either. He sighed.

            “Alright, Shooting Star, you caught me.” He put his hands in the air, “Red handed.”

            She left the window. He was exasperated, she wasn’t twelve anymore, damn it. She was a teenager and… had that much time really gone by?

            “You made a deal with me, Shooting Star!” he yelled. The front door swung open and she slammed it shut behind her,

            “Be quiet!” she scolded him, staying on the porch.

            “Your Grunkle’s deal was your death and your deal was that I get him. Pine Tree is alive, just like promised, and he found his way back to you, just like I knew he would.”

            “What are you going to do, once we’re gone?” she asked. Bill found her bravery very enchanting. She seemed very accepting of her death. That she made a deal that she had avoided for years, but now it was time.

            “Resume Weirdmageddon.” He responded honestly, “Without you and IQ in the way, no one really knows what’s going on. I’ll keep the Reset, it’ll make it easier for me. More fun that way.”

            “You’ll get tired of it soon enough.” She said, “Let me say good bye to Dipper. I have to tell him what to-,” she was fiddling with her hands.

            “You have had more time with him than you were supposed to.” Bill raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The defeat and bravery in her eyes vanished, for a second, into complete terror. Panic. Fear.

And then she was gone.

            He heard a yell from the attic window, Pine Tree saw the entire thing. Did hear anything? He could take care of Pine Tree… he sighed. He had a feeling if he took care of Pine Tree, Shooting Star would find a way back, somehow, someway, and he didn’t want to deal with someone after they went to where he sent her.

            The door burst open and it wasn’t who he expected.

            “Poindexter.” He said, his day was getting better and better.

            “Bill-,”

            “I’ve got deals to deliver on, IQ.”

            “Mabel-,” he took a step forward, “I’ll make another deal, I’ll do anything-,” he stepped where she was. All that was left was a bracelet. _Mystery Twins._ It was weird for things to fall off when traveling. IQ looked at the bracelet, debating picking it up, but instead- something came across his face. Bill wasn’t very good with reading human faces quite yet, but he would be. Maybe. Was it surprise? Realization?

            Poindexter stepped carefully back, away from the plastic bracelet, “Where is she?”

            “She’s practically dead, IQ. Or she will be, just like our deal said.”

            “It’s… not what I wanted-,” IQ ran his fingers through his gray hair.

            “But it was the deal. And Shooting Star made a deal too.”

            Poindexter’s look of surprise made Bill laugh, “She didn’t tell you? She wanted me to go to sleep. I was going to sleep until Pine Tree came back home, which she was so confident wouldn’t happen, I don’t know how that kid made it back here, but I love him. Because now she’s gone and now you’re mine.”

            “I’m what-,”

            “But I’ll put you in safe keeping-,” he raised his hands to snap, “If you survive.” He cackled as he snapped and Poindexter was gone.

            The two people that knew everything about him, well, not everything, but definitely the most, and now Bill had all of Gravity Falls in his palm.

            Pine Tree dashed out the door,

            “BRING THEM BACK!” he screamed, “BRING THEM BACK RIGHT NOW-,” he stepped on the homemade plastic bracelet and he looked down. He picked up the bracelet and looked at it. Did he not know what it said? He had the same one, didn’t he? But instead Pine Tree looked up and stared into Bill’s eyes,

            “I’ll get them back.” He dashed inside and the door locked. Bill shrugged off the threat. Pine Tree was useless without memories, his twin, his mentor, and without those pesky journals.

            Bill had practically won, and he was going to go celebrate.

 

\---

 

            Dipper felt like the world was caving in under him, and around him, and just that he was incredibly alone and small. He was taking deep breaths, and closed his eyes, only able to feel the plastic bracelet in his sweaty, cold grip.

            He looked down at the bracelet. It was as if she knew she going to leave, now it had PORTAL IS OPEN hand written over the bracelet’s original message. He tried to even his breath, he had to kill Bill, that’s what Mabel and Ford were working toward.

            But if he killed Bill, he wouldn’t get Mabel back.

            He had a new mission- save Mabel, then they would take care of Bill, together.

            He put on the bracelet with his old one and walked to the vending machine. He’d have to turn off the portal for now, he couldn’t afford anything else falling through.

            “Dipper, where’s Mabel?” he heard a girl’s voice. He jumped, the world felt like it was through when Mabel disappeared. Pacifica stood in one of Mabel’s sweater, he wanted to yell at her. He took a deep breath,

            “I don’t know. Robbie- Bill? Whoever he was just took her and Grunkle Ford.” He plugged in the code to vending machine, Mabel told him the secret code just in case he had any ideas when she wasn’t around.

            “Well, let’s go catch them!” Pacifica grabbed his arm,

            “I don’t know where he sent them!” Dipper snapped at her, “He just snapped his fingers and they vanished! How do we fight something that powerful? How do we even come to terms with that?”

            “Mabel… she had a plan, right? Gideon said… he said that she told him we were going to shove Bill into the portal.”

            “And then how do we get Mabel back?” Dipper felt tears burning his eyes, “I spent years trying to find her! And I find her and she’s gone! She’s my twin sister, Pacifica!” he took a deep breath, trying to stop his tears, “It’s my fault. This, this is all my fault.” He felt his hands trembling slightly, “The minute I came back they were dead, that was the deal. That’s what Bill said. I shouldn’t have come back. That’s why she kept yelling at me to go home. She knew she was going to die.” His voice broke on the last word and he was pretty sure he was going to get through the day without screaming at something.

            “Dipper-,” Pacifica’s voice was soft. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, “We’ll get her back. Her and your Grunkle. Then we’ll get rid of Bill. We all will, together, okay?” Dipper put his head on her shoulder as he cried and hugged her back tightly.

            A knock on the door made the pair jump. Dipper wiped his eyes and took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob,

            “Who is it?” Pacifica called behind him.

            “Wendy!” a girl hissed from the other side of the door, “It’s me, Wendy! Let me in! Quickly!” Dipper threw open the door and saw the red haired girl he had met earlier on his summer ‘vacation’. But a few days in and it's been anything but relaxing. He expected answers, but this place only gave him more questions. And more searching.

            “Wendy! You’re okay!” he said as she rushed in. He shut the door behind her, quick to lock it.

            “Bill.” She said, panting, “Bill is back! He’s coming this way!”

            “He’s already been here.” Dipper said quietly, “Killed Mabel and Grunkle Ford.”

            “He- Mabel? He… killed-,” tears stung the older girl’s eyes as she swept Dipper into a hug, “Dipper, Oh Dipper, I’m so sorry. She was my friend too, we spent…” she shook her head. Tears threatened his eyes and the two hugged in tearful silence.

            Pacifica coughed awkwardly after a moment, “We don’t know if they’re dead. Dipper, you said they vanished. That there is a possible way to get them back. And that’s what we’re going to do. Let’s go turn off that portal-,”

            “Turn off the portal?” Gideon asked through the door, he came into the room, “Mabel said that’s the only way to get rid of Bill. You two, or three,” he glanced at Wendy, “May not remember him, but I do. That thing doesn’t need to be here anymore than- wait, what’s wrong? Why are we all tearful and hugging… what happened?”

            “Mabel… and Grunkle Ford… they’re dead.”

            Glass shattered. The door was open behind Gideon as Grunkle Stan stood amongst broken china and food, his hands were trembling. He shook his head,

            “Th-they can’t be…”

            “They may not be!” Pacifica jumped into the conversation again, “There may be a way to get them back! He didn’t kill them in front of us. Dipper, Dipper said that he snapped and they disappeared. There might be a way to get them back! But until we find that out, we’re going to turn off the portal. We can turn it back on when we get Mabel and Ford back, right? If it’s fixed, turning it off and on should be fine. And if we leave it open down there who knows what we could let through on accident!”

            Dipper pulled away from Wendy and nodded in agreement with Pacifica, “That… that was the plan.”

            Wendy stepped up to join Dipper and Pacifica’s plan. Gideon stepped back, away from the group,

            “Mabel wouldn’t want this.” Gideon disagreed with the other teenagers, relying on the old man to take his side, but Grunkle Stan walked past Gideon and opened the vending machine door,

            “I want my twin back. I want my great-niece back. I don’t care if they hate me for the rest of my life, I want them back.” They all headed down stairs.

            Gideon swallowed hard, none of them had been in that palace. They didn’t see what Gideon had dealt with for two years. If Bill found Gideon again… He wanted Bill gone for good. He wanted to sleep safely again. He wanted to stop having nightmares.

            He could see Mabel in his mind’s eye. Her long, curly brown hair bouncing everywhere with a smile as wide as the sea; sure the older Mabel had gone hard, but hadn’t he changed as well? He looked at the staircase and ran downstairs to catch up with the group to close the portal with a sigh, they all would regret this.

 

\---

 

            Mabel gasped for air. The sky looked like it was on fire… oh. It…it was on fire. She stood up, but her stomach turned and she fell to her knees and threw up.

            “It happens.” She heard a voice. She looked up, and screamed.

            “No! NO! I’m not-,” the triangular demon shook his hands, “I’m not Him! I’m Will!”

            “What kind of lie is that?” she sat up, despite all of her bones screaming in agony, “Will and Bill? Are you serious? What are you twins?”

            “No, we’re alternates of each other. See, I’m not yellow! I’m blue! Blue!” he spun around slowly for her and faced her again with a smile, “I-,” his smile faded quickly as he stared at her sweater, “Mabel? Mabel Pines?”

            “Y-yeah.” She looked down at her sweater and covered her name with her arms, “Why?”

            “I… have to… um… leave.”

            “What? Why? Tell me where I am at least! And how to get back home!”

            Will stared at her, fear was written all over his face as he pointed behind him, “The Pine Palace is that way Over Lord.”

            “Wh-what?”

            “Empress? I-I can never remember you and your brother’s titles!” he was backing up, “I-I mean you keep changing them and it’s very hard for everyone to figure out wh-which ones you’ve chosen for the week!”

            “What?” Mabel shook her head, “No, I’m not… whoever you’re talking about. I… I left my brother alone with a bunch of kids who don’t even have any clue whats going on.” She leaned against the pine tree behind her, “But if they throw Bill into the portal, then everything should be fine.”

            “You’re… from another dimension?” he was level with her now, “That explains why you were sick. Also why you’re out here. Come with me, the shack is a safe place.”

            A scream behind Mabel made her jump. A bright light blinded Will. She turned and saw her Grunkle holding his head and vomiting.

            “I’m getting too old for this sh-,”

            “GRUNKLE FORD!” she couldn’t contain her excitement of not being alone in this terrible place. She hugged her Grunkle, ten realized, “Grunkle… Ford. If we’re both gone-,”

            “Stan still has his memories.”

            “He’s gone soft and you know it.” She hissed, “They’re going to come searching for us, aren’t they?”

            “They barely know us. And Stan would be a fool.” He looked up at Will and waved lamely, he was exhausted. Will helped the old man up,

            “Hi Ford. It’s been awhile.”

            “Yeah, twin brother got me back home. A couple years here, right?” Ford asked. Mabel sighed, of course Ford had already been here.

            “A couple of centuries. We’re… under tyrannical rule.”

            “Still?”

            “Again. The Pines Twins. I… thought the boy was you. I thought he was you, and I know you said you had a twin brother, but I thought alternate dimensions mess up sometimes, so maybe your twin here was a sister. So… so I helped you both out. But Bill came and well, Mabel and Dipper Pines are kind of all-powerful rulers. And they weren't you... and I messed up, again.”

            “We’re what?” Mabel piped up.

            “That’s why Bill sent us here.” Ford limped, as Mabel followed Will to the Mystery Shack, “He wanted to show us what he could do.”

            “This-,” Will stopped at the small shack that was falling apart, “is the shack.”

            “I left it better looking than that.” Ford mumbled.

            “It’s been centuries… and…” Will trailed off. No one forced him to finish the thought. They all could see why the demon-not-so-demon had stopped.

            Dipper stood in front of the shack. He was the same age as Mabel, well, he was her twin wasn’t he? He wasn’t wearing a hat, and his bangs were slicked back to show off his birthmark. The birthmark that she had tattooed onto her wrist. She pulled her sweater sleeve down, being a Dipper supporter here was probably not a great thing to be, she figured.

            “What’s happening, Will?” Alternate-Dipper asked. Blue flames itching his fingertips as he grinned at Mabel, “Ready Mabel?”

            “I-,” she stammered, stepping back. How did he have Bill’s powers? What the Hell was happening in this place? Mabel thought she knew fear; she thought fear itself was just Bill Cipher. But now she realized she was wrong. She was so very wrong.

Fear was this place. Fear was every inch of this very terrifying place.

             

\---

 

            The portal whirred down and Grunkle Stan rested his hand on Dipper’s shoulder, “We’ll get them back. I’ve done it before. A few more calculations. It’ll be a little harder because Bill did it, but we can.”

            “I know.” Dipper stared at the shut-down portal, “Bill will regret ever messing with us.”

            A crash was heard upstairs and everyone jumped,

            “What the Hell was that?” Pacifica demanded. Gideon was the first to head into the elevator. Dipper rushed to follow, Wendy, Pacifica, and Grunkle Stan hobbled behind. The ride up the elevator was anxious silence. The ding and opening of the gate and they all rushed out into the store lobby and Soos was standing there amongst more broken glass and holding his now bleeding foot.

            “Sorry dudes, I didn’t see the stuff-,” he pointed to Stan’s broken plate, “And I stepped on something and I dropped this and-,” he took in the group, “Where’s Mr. Other-Pines and Mabel?”

            No one wanted to break the news to Soos. Stan finally stepped forward after the moment of the awkward silence, “Come on, Soos. Let’s go sit down.” He guided the handy man back into the main part of the house.

            “I’ll grab a broom.” Wendy said, “We don’t need any more injuries.” She headed to the closet and Gideon followed her and grabbed the dust pan. It felt like their team was defeated before they had even started. Pacifica sat down and pulled out her small journal. It was purple with a cheap spiral and she flipped to the next blank page and started to scribble.

            “What are you doing?” Dipper asked as the other two cleaned the hallway. He should be doing that, he thought, wasn’t this his house?

            She looked up after finishing her sentence, “I write everything that happens. I write down the weird things that I find; gnomes, manotaurs, live golf balls. That’s the weirdest one actually.”

            “Yeah… that's weird.” He agreed, there was more than just that weird shifting thing? What the Hell was Gravity Falls? Some weird alien, supernatural place? But… why? “Why do write it all down?”

            “I’ve found weird symbols around town. I experienced déjà vu almost every day, and I just woke up with this in my pocket when summer started. Who knows where I got it…” she felt the notebook softly and sighed, “I probably bought it myself. Who knows how many other things I wrote in here, and it just disappeared with the Reset.”

            “Yeah. This place is fu-,”

            A roar echoed through the forest and the sound of something crashing through the trees, rampaging towards the shack caught everyone’s attentions. Stan burst into the room, followed by a teary eyed Soos, bumping into the cleaning pair, knocking all of their work back on to the floor.

            “What was that?” he asked.

            “We don’t know!” Wendy snapped, resweeping the pile, “We aren’t exactly outside, Mr. Pines.”

            “Watch your step.” Gideon gently pushed the old man back.

            Before anyone could possibly apologize for the mess, or explain what the noise might be, a monster burst through the door, pulling down half of the building’s wall. After tearing down the wall, the monster changed into something else. And then something else, laughing at the fear on their faces.

            “What… is that?” Pacifica asked, closing her journal and putting it back inside her pocket.

            “I think… but Mabel froze it though.” Bill’s laughter came behind the monster.

            “Had to keep you kids busy while I take over the world! Have fun!” The roar of Stan’s car drove off.

            “I’m gunna’ kill him.” Stan spat.

            “If that thing doesn’t kill us first.” Dipper stood up, “If Mabel can take it on by herself; we can all do it together.”

            Mabel’s name triggered something in the beast and it changed into his twin sister. She looked like just like she did yesterday. Dipper had no idea how to fight something that could turn into his sister. As he stood frozen, the Mabel Monster lunged and he realized that real Mabel was not able to save him this time.

He really was on his own.

 

 


	8. Shifting Priorities

           Shifter-Mabel lunged at Dipper, who was frozen with fear. It was Pacifica who pushed him out of the way, falling on top of him. She jumped back up, ready to defend him.

            Was he completely useless? He couldn’t even move out of the way of an angry teenage girl’s form.

            “Dipper!” Pacifica was yelling at him over her shoulder.

            “Hmm? What?” he asked.

            “I SAID, how did Mabel defeat this thing? What did she do? Get up!”

            “We…we were in a bunker type place.” Dipper stood up, trying to mimic her pose, “It was this huge tree in the middle of the forest-,”

            “I’m not going back there.” Shifter-Mabel hissed, “I’ve been freed from the awful place, and there is no way I’m going back. I’d rather die.” She took a step towards Dipper, and he stepped back.

            He was. He really was useless. And scared of everything. What was he even doing here? These people knew what they were doing, even if they didn’t remember how many summers they had lived through. Wendy was armed with her broom, handle out and facing the Shifter-Mabel. Gideon had the dustpan in one hand as a shield, and a large piece of broken glass in the other, he didn’t seem bothered that he had already cut himself holding the shard. Stan had pushed Soos behind him as he searched the shop for a type of weapon. Pacifica had her fists ready, and it didn’t look like she was going for a weapon. And Dipper? He was hiding behind the blonde girl, with wide terrified eyes, ready to run. He should have been taken to wherever Mabel was. Mabel was needed here. And Ford. They knew more about Bill, and the other monsters than he did.

            Shifter-Mabel was taking in his…her surroundings. It seemed to realize its shape wouldn’t be able to take on the group of people it now planned on murdering. It shifted into a ten foot black spider, he noticed Pacifica shift backwards.

            “Spiders? Of all the damn things to morph into, spiders?” she mumbled under her breath. Dipper was still impressed with how she was handling all of this. How everyone was handling this better than he was. Maybe… maybe he should just go back home and let them finish-

            The monster was charging him, and to get to him, it was charging Pacifica. She screamed and dodged the monster, leaving Dipper to do something.

            _Don’t be useless! Don’t be useless! Don’t be USELESS! MOVE DAMN IT!_ He barely managed to fall over just in time. The monster turned smiling at him,

            “You’re twin was a lot faster than you were.” It said, it’s voice was deep. Dipper swallowed, scooting back, he felt like everyone was standing still. He looked at them and realized, they were. His heart was racing. They were all frozen. He was panicking. Hyperventilating. The monster winced as Wendy smashed the broomstick over it head from behind,

            “BACK OFF!” she yelled, “Pick on someone your own size.” The monster turned, eager to take on the challenge. The room was moving in full speed now. Gideon and Pacifica were on the sides of the monster, ready to tackle the beast. Wendy was the distraction. Soos and Stan were waving to Dipper, telling him to get out of their way.

            Dipper stood up slowly, terrified to catch the monster’s attention. He backed up slowly to the wall, following it back to Stan and Soos.

            Wendy was waving the broom, hitting the monster where she could reach. Pacifica jumped on the spiders side, climbing onto, the now thrashing, beast. Gideon slid under, china shard up, slicing the monster’s under belly. Blood poured out onto the teenage boy, but it didn’t seem to faze him as he reached deeper, going for the kill. Pacifica was now attached to the monster’s neck, holding it tighter and tighter. Wendy kept beating it with the wooden broomstick.

            Dipper almost felt sorry for the shifter. Stan grabbed him, causing him to jump. Not that Stan cared about Dipper’s jumpiness. Stan pulled Dipper behind him, and Soos pushed him even further back,

            “You’re super safe back here, Dude.”

            _I’m so completely useless._ Dipper’s shoulder’s fell and he watched from behind two other people the ten foot spider try to shift into other forms, but it was dying. The shifter made eye contact with Dipper. Dipper knew he should look away, but instead the shifter shifted one last time. As if to get one last jab, the last word. He changed into Mabel.

            But it wasn’t yesterday’s Mabel. It was twelve year old Mabel, the girl in his picture that was in his vest pocket. She had braces, a pink head band, and big brown eyes no one could ever say no too. But they were filled with tears as she fell to her knees,

            “Help… me…” she said, covered in blood.

            Pacifica had fallen back, and she shook her head. She couldn’t kill this shape. Wendy had dropped the broomstick. But Gideon, he looked at the monster, covered in the monster’s blood and did the final stab.

            “One thing we need to learn and we need to learn now:” He said to the group as Shifter-Mabel fell dead to the ground, “We’re all monsters and it’s kill or be killed. Gravity Falls isn’t safe anymore. Don’t trust anyone.”

            It was silent as everyone stared at the dead body in the middle of the, now destroyed, Mystery Shack. Gideon sighed, “I’ll bury it. This is not Mabel. This is not the last time or way we’ll see Mabel. Dipper-,” he looked at Dipper who had tears running down his cheeks, he looked to Pacifica instead, “Pacifica, Wendy, you two come up with a plan to trap Bill. Stan, rerun through all of Ford and Mabel’s notes, they have to have something we need. Soos, can you help me dig a grave so deep that this thing will never come back to light?” Soos nodded. Stan grumbled something about taking orders, and headed back into the living room. Wendy had picked up the broom and started cleaning up some of the dmamge.

            “I’m all about plans, Gideon.” She said, but gestured to the huge hole in the wall, “But this is a huge problem.”

            “Does this break the ward against Bill?” Pacifica asked.

            Dipper stepped up, “I’ll reward it.” He would prove he wasn’t worthless.

            Gideon looked at Dipper’s tear stained face, “I mean, I’m sure Pacifica or Wendy could help you out-,”

            “No.” Dipper shook his head, “I’ll do it on my own.” He wasn’t useless the last time he was in Gravity Falls. He sure as Hell wasn’t going to be useless now that he was older, “Just tell me what I need.”

            “Ford knew.” Stan said behind Dipper, “Ford had all that knowledge.” He tapped his head, “Tucked upstairs. And Mabel, she knew. She was the one who rewarded this place every two months.”

            Dipper nodded, “Then I’ll figure it out.” He headed upstairs, “Mabel had to have it written down somewhere.” It was a long stretch, but he knew he had to do something. The way that Gideon looked down on him, the way the girls were so quick to be able to take on a ten foot monster, it made Dipper feel like he should just go home. Mabel was right.

            He headed upstairs as the others started to work on their Gideon given projects. He closed the attic door behind him and took a deep breath and sank to the floor, tears running down his face.

            _“WAH! Total domination!” Mabel screamed as she punched a golf club in the air. The room was set up as a mini-golf course. She was wearing a dark pink sweater covered in hearts and a matching headband. Her curls bounced around her shoulders, her braces glistening against her teeth. “I am the master of attic stuffed mini golf!”_

_Dipper was leaning on his own golf club in the corner of the room, scowling at his older twin. She continued to brag, “From the mighty Swiss Alps,” she was pointing to the fan, “To the badlands of Dipper’s old laundry where men fear to tred-,”_

_“Alright, alright-,” he interrupted his sister’s pre-victory speech, “Let a pro on the field… Or floor. Whatever.” He focused on the shot. Part of him wanted to miss, to lose and let his sister take the win. He loved letting her win, seeing her jump up and down screaming obnoxiously about being the master of whatever she had won. The other part wanted to win, to have his own victory speech. Either way, he would be happy with the outcome. He stuck his tongue out and swung as hard as he could. It was a mistake. The ball bounced from obstacle to obstacle, breaking everything in its path, including the light bulb, before shattering the window. A thunk and shout from Grunkle Stan who had the misfortune of being outside,_

_“OW! MY HEAD! IT HIT ME RIGHT ON THE HEAD!”_

_Dipper felt no pity for his great uncle, instead he cheered, “YES! Stan Shot!” he looked at his sister, who wore a matching smile, “Is that legal?”_

_They both looked at Mabel’s pet pig, Waddles, wearing a hat and chewing on the score forms, “The judges say it’s out of bounds.” She smirked at her brother._

_“You’re out of bounds!” he jokingly shoved her with his golf club and she laughed,_

_“Hey! Stop it!” her voice squealed. And they play fought, the way they always did._

            What interrupted their fun? Something about a sleep over, wasn’t it? Dipper watched as the happy memory faded from the dusty attic. Fresh tears in his eyes, but then he realized what had just happened. He had a memory. He remembered something. If he could remember playing mini golf two years ago, then he still had a memory of the ward somewhere in his mind, right?

            He walked through the room and sat down on his bed and stared at the empty bed across the way.

            _“Dipper, you don’t think we’ll turn out like Stan and Ford, do you?” she asked him from across the room in her purple nighty._

_“Wh-What do you mean?” he asked._

_She fell onto her pillow with a thud. “Well, they used to be best friends, but then they got all_ stupid _.” She was moving her hands the way she always did when she got nervous. She turned to face him, “Can you promise me you won’t get stupid?”_

_It sounded like such a dumb question. But her eyes were seriously concerned. He hated it when she worried. He shot her a confident look and laughed, “Not stupider than you dumb, dumb.”_

_She laughed, he had made her feel better. That was his job as her brother, to make sure she was happy and safe. “Good night, Stupid.”_

_“Good night, Stupid.” He smiled at her before turning off their lamp and rolling over._

 

            “Good night, Stupid.” Dipper told the empty bed, his heart heavy with happy memories he felt he didn’t deserve. He stood up to leave the room, but his foot caught something and he fell down. His hands caught him, and a few splinters, before he let the floor eat his face.

            “Can’t even fight a wood floor without taking serious damage.” He complained to himself as he pulled out the splinters. He looked to see what he tripped on. It was a scrap book and by the looks of it Mabel’s scrap book. He opened it and stared at all the pictures of the two of them. And a pig. And… was that Gideon in failed romances? He soaked in every picture, wishing he had memories of every bright flash of the camera, every laugh, and weird adventure.

            A yellowed page stuck out from behind a picture of Mabel and Dipper dressed as Peanut Butter and Jelly. He laughed at the picture, did they do that often? Dress up together? He pulled out the yellow page and his heart skipped.

            It was a page, like his Bill page he woke up with two years ago, but it had a unicorn on it instead. Of course she had some page about a unicorn, he wanted to laugh and went to pick up the page, but her handwriting on the back of the page made him relook.

            The recipe to the ward. She did have it, how it survived the Reset, he didn’t know and he didn’t give a damn. He folded the page and shoved it with his pocket picture. He would prove himself to the group. He wouldn’t be so damn useless.

            He grabbed the backpack leaning against his bed, he assumed it was his, and headed out the door, sneaking out of the other side of the house. His two plastic bracelets clinking together.

            His goals this summer:

  * Protect the shack and everyone in it.
  * Bring Mabel and Ford back.
  * Destroy Bill
  * Bring Mabel home to Mom and Dad



 

           He had two months to save a town, save his twin and great uncle, and kill a dream demon. Could dream demons even be killed? He adjusted the backpack strap over his shoulder, regardless if Bill could be killed or not, he was going to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank everyone who keeps reading. You guys are great! I love all the kudos I've gotten and I just wanted to say thanks <3


	9. Wards and Bonds

 

Dipper was deep in the forest and he was pretty sure he was lost. He had followed the map, or at least he thought. He could have completely gone the wrong way, Dipper sighed and sat down. He admired the rocks around him, fancy spirals adorning the gray stone.

            He stopped and looked back at his map. Then back at the rocks. Then back at the rocks and could feel the smile growing on his face, he found this place. He was in the middle of nowhere, but he found it.

            “Let’s see,” he said studying the map again, “That’s Gnome Tavern, because of course it is. And a nail salon. Why do Gnomes need a nail salon?” he asked himself before seeing a bullet list and sighed, “Ancient chant? Deep voice? I should have read this whole thing before coming all the way out here.”

            He sighed, “Well… I’m out here. Might as well try.” He started to mumble the chant, before a golden door grew from the grass. He fell back, completely surprised that it actually worked. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for the worst, and pushed open the golden doors and stopped midstep.

            “You… you’re real. Because… because of course you are.” He sighed, “Listen, I need your hair.” He told the purple unicorn. Parts of the unicorn’s mane looked cropped where Mabel must have been cutting for years.

            “Of course you do.” Her horn lit up when she talked, Dipper pretended not to be surprised. The unicorn bent it’s head. Dipper was thankful scissors were in the bag already, he clipped off a chunk and thanked the unicorn.

            “Where’s Mabel?” she asked, “She’s the one who visits me every few months.”

            “You… remember every few months?”

            “We’re unicorns. You have to summon us, unlike all of the other creatures in this forest. Time still drags on for us where we go. It’s a bit early for you needing more hair. Mabel was here just last week.”

            “Mabel… is gone. The ward broke and so we’re fixing it back.”

            A moment of sadness splashed across the unicorn’s face, but then it turned away, “See you in a few months.”

            “Mabel-,”

            “Go do what you need to do.” So Dipper left. Everyone reacted to loss differently. If the unicorn wanted to mourn alone, Dipper would give her the option. He followed the map back home, grabbing all of the things he needed. By time he made it home, everyone was nowhere to be seen. Asleep most likely, it was dark. He started to ward the shack on his own.

            He was pretty sure he did this before, with someone. Someone older… Stan? No, no he did it with Ford. He really admired Ford, he remembered that much. He sighed and replayed what little happy memories of Mabel that he actually had as he lined the entire shack with unicorn hair.

            When he was done he smiled. He would start a journal, like Pacifica. A journal to show Mabel how much he did for her when she came back, something to withstand time like her scrapbook.

            He’d have to add more to his goals to do this summer, he realized as he walked into the building that had no wall or door. He’d have to help rebuild this place. He walked down the hall and poked his head in the living room, where Pacifica and Gideon slept in the corner of the room. Soos was asleep on the couch, and reruns of some shows played quietly, lighting the room.

            They hadn’t even noticed he was gone. At least he was out of the way. He sighed.

            “I wanted to help you.” He heard Wendy whisper behind him. He jumped and looked at the older girl. She was wearing the same clothes she wore all day, she shrugged, “But I saw that look on your face before. When my mom died, my dad always wanted to do things on his own. I remember helping you guys ward the shack the first time. I was going to tell you- but you left the house and I just let you go.” She sighed, “Shouldn’t have. Mabel would have killed me.”

            “I warded the place.” He said, avoiding talking about his twin.

            “I know. I watched you. I don’t know how you did it on your own, but I can start to see you again.”

            “See me?” he asked. She nodded,

            “When Bill gave me my memories I could see you and your sister being so close. It was weird, believing that Mabel was Robbie’s kid sister. When the world went to … weird… we teamed up together to save her. And when you came back, you weren’t that kid. Which was fine… we all change.” She looked down at herself and sighed, “Well, we’re supposed to. I’m nearly eighteen and I haven’t graduated high school. I’ve got no friends. No driver’s license. My teen years are just… gone.” She shook her head and smiled at Dipper, “I’m glad you made it back home safe though. It’s great to have you back, kiddo. Just wait ‘til both you guys are together again. With all of us, we’ll be an unstoppable team.” She ruffled his hair awkwardly.

            “I’m not twelve anymore.” He said, slightly shoving her hand away.

            “I know. That’s weird to me, okay?” she shoved her hands in her pockets, “I mean… it’s just, this is all weird, okay?” she headed off and Dipper wondered where she planned on sleeping,

            “Where are you sleeping?” he asked.

            “Outside-,”

            “That’s not safe.” Dipper interrupted. He looked upstairs, he couldn’t let her take Mabel’s bed. He had to figure out a safer option. The vending machine caught his eye and he smiled,

            “Let’s have a sleep over.”

            “What?” she asked.

            “Yeah, I was going to stay up late and look over some of Mabel and Ford’s work. I’m not tired anyway,” he lied, “I’d love the company.”

            “You’re a terrible liar.” She smiled back, “But I can’t sleep anyway.”

 

\---

 

            It was two hours later and Wendy had fallen asleep against the metal wall. Dipper wished he had a jacket he could cover her with, but instead he had… Ford’s coat, that hung on the back of his chair. He put the coat over her, and she shifted comfortably. He wouldn’t leave her down here alone, so he leaned back in the chair and looked over the notes, again.

            It all looked like gibberish now, but he couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he only saw Shifter-Mabel’s dead body in the middle of the shack. He gripped her bracelet as his eyes fought him to close. He shook himself awake, it was only 3 a.m. He could… last… the night…

            _He was standing over Mabel’s dead body. She was bleeding everywhere. The sky looked like it was ripped in half and Bill’s laughter was everywhere. Dipper needed to hide, but he couldn’t leave Mabel out here. He tried to drag her with him, but her eyes shot open and they were yellow. She was laughing, but it was Bill’s laugh._

_“What’s happenin’ Pine Tree?” Mabel-Not-Mabel asked. Dipper was backing up,_

_“Please, I just want her back.”_

_Mabel cackled and disappeared. “NO! MABEL! MABEL!” Dipper was screaming at the empty spot she used to be._

“DIPPER!” he jolted awake. 6 a.m. Only three hours. Wendy was holding onto his shoulders and he could only look at her. She only hugged him and whispered, “I have them too.” He nodded and she let go.

            “Wanna’ beat Mr. Pines to making breakfast?” she asked. Soemthing told him that neither of them could cook, or have ever cooked together, but being busy was better than having nightmares. He nodded,

            “Yeah.”

 

            They had completely made a mess of the kitchen. Dishes were piled in the sink, Dipper had volunteered to clean them, if Wendy made the rest of the pancakes. Dipper had burnt the first few and he didn’t want to waste anymore batter because he couldn’t cook.

            Wendy wasn’t much better either. Flour covered her hands, arms, and face. The pancakes were unevenly cooked and folded weirdly.

            By time the batter was finished off, all of the pancakes looked very sad. But they made the friends laugh, and they did. They laughed so hard they fell to the ground, tears leaking from their eyes.

            “What’s with all the noise?” Stan came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. He stared at the destroyed kitchen and the plate of weird, goopy pancakes and shrugged,

            “Well, they match the lobby.”

            Which made Dipper and Wendy laugh even more. Stan chuckled and headed out to the living room, “Just clean up the place when you’re done.”

            Dipper took a deep breath and helped Wendy off the floor, he remembered being in love with her. And honestly, he could see why. But there was no chance with her, he quickly went back to washing the dishes. She started to wipe down the counters.

            “Oh my-,” Gideon started as he walked into the white kitchen, “We forgot how flour works, then?”

            Dipper decided right then and there he didn’t like Gideon. He was sure there were other reasons he didn’t remember yet, but even without those reasons, Gideon just wasn’t his cup of tea. Monster Killer or not. Dipper decided to ignore the blonde’s snobby comment.

            “Pancakes!” Pacifica didn’t seem to notice, or mind, Gideon’s demeaning tone. She plopped down and grabbed a pancake and started to eat it like a taco, and giggled when batter ran down her chin.

            “They aren’t fully cooked?” Gideon sat down, copying Pacifica.

            “Some of them are.” Wendy said, “It’s pancake roulette.”

            Dipper laughed and Wendy winked at him. He turned to face the running water to avoid his blush giving him away.

            “End of the world, and we all die of food poisoning.” Mumbled Gideon, but he ate anyway. Maybe, Gideon thought, he would take over cooking from now on. Although, Pacifica seemed to enjoy the fact that the food was a mess, and that the kitchen was a mess, she was happy. Right now anyway. She was still wearing Mabel’s old sweater. He wondered if she would ever take it off.

            He didn’t think that the two girls were close, but he had been locked away for two years. Two years thinking of how he would find Mabel, only to watch her die. Shifter-Mabel wasn’t Mabel. But he finished her off. Covered in blood. And now he couldn’t stop looking at Pacifica. It was… complicated.

            She messily wiped more runny batter from her face and savored her last bite. She stood up and grabbed the broom and started to attempt to move all the flour into one place. Gideon, figure he should help… but it seemed like they were all normal and he was… Was that dried blood under his fingernails? He sighed, he thought he had gotten all of it. He put down the, very rubbery, pancake and headed to the bathroom.

            Dipper put away the last plate and figured Soos would eat the terrible pancakes. If he was remembering correctly, Soos ate everything.

            Wendy had bags under her eyes, and if she had more sleep than he did, he could only imagine what his eyes looked like. _As long as they aren’t yellow._ He thought as he walked past Wendy and Pacifica, who was still wearing Mabel’s old sweater. He had mixed feelings about it.

            “Where you going, Dipper?” Wendy asked.

            “Start rebuilding the shack.”

            “What about the ward?” Pacifica asked, “Shouldn’t we work on that today?”

            “Dipper finished that already. Finished it last night, by himself.” Wendy bragged on his behalf. He half-smiled,

            “Just trying to help out.” He walked out. He could see why Mabel kept running away from all these social situations. It was… overwhelming. She died yesterday. Well, disappeared. And he destroyed her life’s work… because he was selfish.

            Wouldn’t she do the same for him?

            No. No, she wouldn’t. That’s why she was here for two years working and living a recycling Hell, while he went to high school and lived a relatively normal life. She never searched for him. She never tried to communicate with him. _She was dead to Mom and Dad. She couldn’t. Cut her some slack._ He argued with himself.

            He barely knew Mabel. But he spent twelve years with her; there was a scrap book upstairs to prove it. He spent two years just trying to find her again. He saw Stan staring at the huge hole in his house.

            “We’ll fix it, Grunkle Stan.”

            “I don’t care about the house, kid.” He said softly, “I’ve got family lost in a dimension somewhere. You don’t remember kid, but when you and your sister got here… I finally got my brother back. I spent decades trying to save that man, and I didn’t mind not getting a thank you. I didn’t mind when he threatened me out of my house. I didn’t even mind when Mabel turned more and more into him, no matter what I tried. What matters is I love them, and all these dimensions and end of the world situations keeps taking my family away from me.”

            “I’m still here.” Dipper lamely offered. Stan didn’t smile, he patted Dipper’s shoulder with a nod,

            “Yeah, kid. Your still here.” He walked away numbly. As if someone had taken an ice cream scooper and scooped every ounce of life the old man had left. Dipper wondered if turning the portal off was a good idea, they could have finished off Bill, but this is how Grunkle Stan would spend the rest of his life. Broken and alone.

            Dipper needed to find a way to get Mabel and Ford back, but how does one find people who were at the mercy of a dream demon who had a weird thing about deals….

            Deals. He could strike a deal with Bill, secretly. He wouldn’t tell anyone. What could he offer the demon? What did the dream demon even want? He could just talk to Bill. Sure, trust no one, Bill is evil, yada yada ya… What if people just talked to him and he turned out to be a nice guy?

            He’d have to leave after everyone was asleep. Wendy was going to look for him if he just took off. He jumped off the porch and grabbed the axe from the side of the house and started walking. They had to rebuild the shack somehow.

            But tonight. Tonight, after everyone was asleep, Dipper would find Bill. Surely Bill couldn’t be all bad… right? He’d have to understand that Twins just can’t be separated, it’s just not right.

            Wendy ran outside to join him. They walked in silence majority of the walk, before she grabbed his hand and dragged him to another direction.

            “Wh-where are we going?” why was he stammering? He needed to get it together.

            “My house. I’m doing a ton of work, if we can’t just steal some of my dad’s plywood.”

            “That’s… a good idea.”

            “It’s an easy idea.”

            “Should we grab the others for help?” he asked. She shrugged. They didn’t stop or turn around though. He liked Wendy’s company. She was quiet and just really was the coolest chick he knew.

            “Have I ever told you that you’re the coolest person I know?”

            She smiled at him, “Yeah, two years ago. When I helped you rescue Mabel. Catching memories?”

            “Bits and pieces, here and there. Mostly about Mabel.”

            “Most of your life was with her, you know? It’s only natural.”

            He could only nod. He wished he remembered that life. He wished he spent the two year long summer with his twin, she shouldn’t have done that on her own.

            They reached her house, the fence was overgrown with weeds. She didn’t seem bothered by it, maybe it was like that before. She climbed over the fence, helping Dipper over.

            “So… how do we carry this to the shack?” Dipper finally asked.

            Wendy laughed, “We’re not driving. Bill stole Mr. Pines’ car, so we’re grabbing ourselves a truck.” Dipper was sure he was in love. He stilled his racing heart and tried to play it cool,

            “Oh. Okay. Where are we getting truck from?”

            “My dad’s. He won’t miss it.” She looked away from him when she said it. He assumed she was lying, but he didn’t care. He’d follow Wendy to the ends of the earth, no matter how many laws she was willing to break.

            She lifted the car keys and they loaded a stack of plywood into the bed of the truck. Well, Wendy did a lot more than Dipper did, he really did need to work out. He jumped in the passenger seat as Wendy started the truck.

            Dipper clung to his seat as she sped through intersections. His face paled and he was sure he was going to vomit. She slammed the truck into reverse, backing the bed closer to the shack and slammed the shift stick into park. Dipper threw himself out of the truck, thankful to be on the ground.

            “I learned how to drive from Mr. Pines.” She said with a proud smile. Dipper couldn’t find it in himself to smile back. Gideon and Pacifica helped unload the truck and they all spent the day rebuilding the wall.

            Stan stayed in his room. Around lunch time Dipper went to check on his grunkle. The old man was laying in bed,

            “Hey Grunkle Stan-,”

            “Leave me alone, Kid.” He waved Dipper away.

            “Grunkle Stan… will you come out to lunch?”

            “Not hungry kid.”

            “Okay.” Dipper left quietly. He served two plated of turkey sandwiches and headed back into his Grunkle’s room.

            “Kid, what don’t you understand about leave me alone?”

            Dipper merely shrugged, “I was thinking of fixing up the place. Sticking around, after Mabel comes back and all this is done. It could be a family thing.”

            “Kid, you don’t want to stay here. I know I don’t.”

            Dipper set the second plate by Stan before he took his first bite of his sandwich, “Come to dinner with us later?” he asked.

            “Sure, kid.” He said passively.

            “Promise?”

            “I don’t make promises, Kid.”

            Dipper just nodded and headed out leaving the man to mourn. It felt like he was the only one doing so.

            Dipper had suddenly lost his appetite. He turned and headed upstairs instead. He placed his sandwich on his nightstand and laid down in his bed, staring at Mabel’s empty bed. Back at home they had their own rooms. Did they not get along at home? He had nothing, but happy memories of them sharing a room. When Mabel came home, they could get a bunk bed or something. _What if we don’t get her back?_ Dipper ignored his own question and looked up at the ceiling. He couldn’t afford to think that way, not now.

            He fell asleep the minute his eyes fell closed, against his will.

            _“YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” Mabel was screaming at him. The Shifter was coming towards him, but Dipper couldn’t move. Mabel kept yelling at him and he was pretty sure Shifter was going to eat him alive. Revenge for its brutal murder._

            He jolted awake and took deep breaths. It was dark outside. His sandwich plate was replaced with a bowl of soup. They didn’t wake him, he wish they would have.

            He pulled himself up and grabbed his bag and snuck out the house again. He was going to find Bill and just politely ask him to return his family to him. How could that go wrong?


	10. Northwest Mansion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thanks for reading. Sorry not sorry if my story just got real weird, real quick.  
> But if it helps: It only gets weirder. :)
> 
> <3

Pacifica had been staring at t.v. The infomercial was about owls. She wasn’t catching much of the sales pitch, the volume was so low, but she knew it was on for Gideon.  
But the volume didn’t mute the footsteps she heard coming down the stairs. She slowly walked away from Gideon and Wendy, the three of them had fallen asleep together, it was comforting. But Pacifica couldn’t sleep, not in a world where Bill was planning their demise.  
She slowly slipped by the slightly adjacent door and caught a glimpse of a fast walking Dipper. She chased him down,

  
“Dipper?” she called out, not wanting to wake up the others, “Dipper?” she caught up to him, grabbing his arm, “Dipper what are you doing out here?”

  
He turned, trying to shake her off, “I’m going find Bill.”

  
“And do what exactly?”

  
“Ask him for Mabel back.”

  
“We all have missing family, Dipper. We can’t just go running up to dream demons and demanding for things. That’s not how-,”

  
“We all have missing family? Your family is happily set in a mansion-,”

  
“That’s really disgusting for you to assume.” She snapped.

  
“Well, am I wrong?”

  
“Yes! Possibly? I just…”

  
“You don’t know?” Dipper asked, her grasp on his hand was cool.

  
“I haven’t seen them all summer. And that means I haven’t seen them for two years.” She dropped her grasp on his arm, the realization really hitting her, “I probably haven’t seen them for two years. What if… what if they’re dead?”

  
Dipper grabbed her hand, “Let’s go find out.”

  
“I thought you were chasing after Bill-,”

  
“I’ll do that later. We’ll find your parents first.” She squeezed his hand and they ran off into the dark, Dipper realized he would regret not stealing Wendy’s truck, because this walk was probably going to be very, very long.

  
\---

  
Dipper was right, the walk was long. But he didn’t mind the quiet walk with Pacifica. They were holding hands the entire way, and although Dipper was pretty sure he was in love with Wendy, he didn’t mind holding hands with Pacifica, he actually really enjoyed it. It was relaxing in a sense.  
When they finally made it to the mansion, the moon was centered in the sky, it was midnight, or close-ish too it. Pacifica and Dipper walked into the grand lobby, and Dipper froze,

  
“Have I been here before?” he asked.

  
“Have you?” she asked.

  
“Oh right-,” he said as their hands dropped, “You… don’t remember either.”

  
“Right.”

  
“Mabel would know.”

  
“Yeah, yeah Mabel would know.”

  
He shoved his hands in his pockets and Pacifica headed up the huge, royal staircase, “There bedroom is up here.”

  
He followed her, convinced that her parents were fine. In fact, her parents would probably be asleep so late at night. She stared at the huge double doors at the end of the hallway.

  
“This is it?” he asked. She merely nodded. He grabbed the door handle, and she shook her head,

  
“I-I don’t want to do this anymore. I think I remember-,” She took a step back.

But Dipper twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open before she could finish.  
The first thing that hit Dipper was the smell. The terrible, terrible smell of decay. That’s when he saw it. He tried to slam the door shut before Pacifica could see, but it was too late. She was screaming. She fell to her knees, and Dipper fell with her to hold her.

  
Mr. Northwest was in the bed, surrounded by dry blood. His body was rotting away, a gaping hole in his face where he was shot. He had been dead for a long time.

  
Pacifica was shaking her head, “Wh-what if I did it?” she whispered through her sobs. Dipper pulled her to him, holding her tightly and shook his head,

  
“I doubt it, Pacifica.”

  
“You don’t know-,”

  
“And neither do you.” He comforted her. She was wearing another one of Mabel’s sweaters, and he wasn’t angry about it. If anything, he was thankful he could hug the hand knitted material. It was almost like hugging Mabel.

  
“We need to find my mom.” She said, wiping her tears away, “We need to find her.” She stood up, and he followed her as they searched the house for people.

  
“I usually have a few servants wandering around.” She said through her sniffles.

  
“It is in the middle of the night. Normal people are sleeping.” He reminded her. She shrugged, and let her hand fall back into place with his. He held it tight as they slowly walked around the corridors.

  
“P-Pacifica?” they heard a whisper behind them. They jumped, and turned to face a middle aged, brunette woman, covered in dried blood. Her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days and she looked like she was absolutely… insane.

  
“M-mom?” Pacifica mustered, dropping Dipper’s hand, she walked slowly to her mother, “What happened to you? To Dad?”

  
“The bell… the bell… it doesn’t ring anymore.” Her eye twitched, “He was so… deformed. And he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t… and he would ring… ring the bell.” She was reaching for Pacifica, Dipper didn’t like where any of this was going.

  
“Mom… what are you talking about?”

  
“Ring. Ring. Ring. Ding a ling a ling. Ring. Ring. Ring.” She was singing to her daughter, “Over and over. Over and over. So I got his gun and I BAM!” she stopped. As if reliving the moment, her hands were holding an imaginary gun, “BAM BAM BAM!” she screamed.

  
With each scream, Pacifica jumped. She had run out on adventures, no one was watching her, because there was no one left. The servants were trying to contain… trying to contain her mother to the mansion. Trying to contain this new monster.

  
“I remember it all.” She said giggling, “But no one else does. I used to suffer through his bells for months and months. But I didn’t remember that. I just remembered… bells and bells. But when I shot him, it all came back to me. I remembered everything.”

  
“Mom… you’re a murderer…” she whispered. Dipper reached for her hand, to drag her away from this place, but Mrs. Northwest caught him.

  
“Dipper? Dipper? Dipper Pines?” why was she saying everything to that eerie sing song tone?

  
“Yes.” It took all he had not to stammer.

  
“Bill wants you. Bill wants you. If I give you to him-,” Pacifica stepped in front of him,

  
“Back off, Mom.”

  
She tackled Pacifica, the two rolled down the stairs, Dipper ran down after them, Pacifica was being strangled by her mother, she was trying to swat the older woman away, but her reach wasn’t long enough. Dipper pushed the woman off, and Pacifica ran. He didn’t blame her, but now he was fighting a crazed woman alone.

  
The woman clutched his arm, digging her nails into his skin. He yelped, trying to pull her off. Her other hand reached his neck and tightened, he tried to dig his hand under her grip, but he was failing and his vision was blurring.

  
“Pa-,” he tried to call for Pacifica, but the rest of her name was blurred by the roar of a gun shot. The splatter of blood splashed the back of his head and face, the grip falling off as the woman fell to the floor with a thud. He turned, covered in blood, and faced a bruised, crying Pacifica. She was holding a rifle, it clattered to the ground as she collapsed, holding her head in pain.

  
Dipper rushed to her and cradled her as he walked back home. She passed out in his arms, and he would make sure to get her back to the shack, where it was safe.

\---

Pacifica was light, but 110 was still heavy to walk all the way across town. Dipper had ended up stealing another car, and driving very slowly, surprised he knew the basics of how to drive in the first place. When he made it to the Mystery Shack it was three in the morning, and he was exhausted. And filthy.

  
He carried her into the living room, where he met Gideon’s gaze.

  
“Where’ve you two been?” he asked.

  
“Out.” Dipper laid her on the couch, and pulled a blanket over her.

  
“You look like you’ve been fighting.”

  
“We weren’t fighting each other.” Dipper snapped as he walked out of the room. He headed to the bathroom and stayed in the lukewarm water for what seemed like hours, scrubbing away every splatter of blood.

  
When he was sure he had gotten every single spot, he made his way back to his room, got dressed and collapsed into his bed,

  
“Good night Stupid.” He whispered. As he fell asleep, he swore he could hear her answer him back.

When he woke up, he was inspired to write everything down. He had been before, but this time he knew what he would write. He pulled an empty journal from under his bed and wrote on the cover “Wish You Were Here.” A book to Mabel, wherever she was, so that when she came back, she would be caught up on all of the adventures they went on.  
He scribbled everything that had happened. Even things Mabel would have already known, just in case she lost her memory, and was interrupted by Pacifica.

  
“Hey.”

  
“Hey.” He said, putting down his pen, “Are you okay?”

  
“You were there before. We broke plates and danced and… it was one of the greatest nights of my life.”

  
“You… remember?”

  
“The minute I shot-,” she could bring herself to say it, “It hit me all like a brick. I remember all of it.”

  
“Pacifica-,”

  
“Don’t. I… that’s what she was saying. She remembered everything after she shot Dad. She… I think when you kill someone you remember.”

  
“Well, let’s not tell anyone that at all.” He said.

  
“I wanted to tell you.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, “You should come eat with us downstairs.”

  
“Okay.” Dipper followed her downstairs and didn’t comment on the limp she now walked with.

 

Wendy, Gideon, Soos, and Stan were all sitting at the table picking at a plate of what looked like mac and cheese. Wendy looked up and smiled when she saw him, patting the seat next to her. He took it and Pacifica sat by Gideon.

  
“Alright kids,” Stan started, “I know we’re all trying to figure out how to save Mabel and Ford. But Bill’s gone off the grid somewhere, and I think…”

  
“We’re not giving up on Mabel.” Dipper snapped.

  
“I figured you’d say that,” Stan sighed, “So I came up with something different. Evacuate everybody. I’ve got a hole in the dome in the back of the shack. We evacuate everyone and leave. We just… leave. We can come back and save the world and save Mabel and Ford, but I’m running out of food and Bill doesn’t know about the crack.”

  
“Sounds like a plan, Dudes.” Soos perked up.

  
“What do we tell everyone?” Asked Gideon.

  
“Say it was a gas leak. Or something.”

  
“Sounds good to me.” Wendy piped in.

  
Pacifica and Dipper looked across the table from each other. She nodded and he sighed,

  
“I’ll help evacuate everyone, but I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving until I have Mabel back.”

  
“Alright kid.” Stan nodded, Dipper could see it in the old man’s eyes, he hadn’t planned on leaving either.

  
“When do we start?” Dipper asked, realizing now what the real plan was.

  
“Today.” Stan waved the kids out, “You’re not eating my food anyway.”

  
The kids all got up and scattered, splitting up into the two cars, to take what little survivors there were left and finally get them out of Gravity Falls. Wendy and Dipper jumped in her truck. Soos, Gideon, and Pacifica jumpe din the new stolen car no one seemed to mention or question. Stan stayed back, he would keep an eye on the shack.

  
Heading out, Dipper jumped, looking behind him. It was almost as if… as if he could hear Mabel whispering something to him.

  
“What is it?” Wendy asked.

  
“N-nothing,” he wouldn’t admit he was going crazy, “I just thought I saw something.”

  
“You probably did.”

  
Dipped shrugged and looked out the window, there was no way she was actually trying to talk to him… she was practically dead. Or worse…


	11. Losing the Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel and Ford face a world they aren't ready for, and Mabel tries to find her way back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really just want to thank you guys for reading! I've been enjoying writing every day, it's been a great exercise and I hope you guys don't think I'm too crazy. (I'm pretty crazy.)  
>  Stay perfect and thanks again <3

 

            Mabel stared at the Dipper in front of her. This was not her twin, he was wearing a turquoise vest with matching pants. His hair was slicked back, showing off the birthmark that her Dipper was so ashamed of. A sapphire seemed to glow in his shirt collar, he just looked… creepy. The blue flames dancing at his fingertips weren’t too comforting either.

            “Ready Mabel?” he asked, looking at her with an eye brow raised.

            “Always, brother.” She heard a voice behind her. She jumped, turning slowly to see her reflection behind her. This Mabel’s brunette hair was straight, and she wore a matching outfit with her twin. Turquoise blazer, matching skirt, and that weird amulet in her matching headband. The last time Mabel and Dipper had worn matching clothes, they were five and grumpy the entire time. Well, Dipper was. Mabel had quite enjoyed it, but that was beside the point now.

             “I think Will needs to be punished for running away. Trying to find Bill, are you?” Blue-Dipper asked.

            Will shook his head, “Pl-please, I was looking for him. I was trying t-to find him for you.”

            Ford was holding Mabel’s hand. When did that happen? She didn’t care, he was scared to. Will was a dream demon, and these two… these weird versions of her and her brother were terrifying.

            “And who are they? Resistance?” Dipper asked, closing in on Mabel and Ford. Will shook his head, was the demon tearing up?

            “No! Th-they were just walking by!” we defended them. Blue-Dipper grabbed Mabel’s arm and spun to see her face.

            “Just walking by? Can you explain why you look just like my sister?” He looked at her purple sweater, wondering why she couldn’t have worn any other sweater the day she got sent back into an alternate dimension where she and her twin were absolutely crazy,

            “I don’t know.” She could barely manage. In her dimension she fought a shifter every town  months, but looking at her twin brother this way. It was like a hand was holding her heart and it kept squeezing tighter and tighter. The only thing she could do was look into his eyes, they weren’t brown, but blue. Ice blue, they reminded her of Gideon’s eyes, before Weirdmageddon.

            “See, because, my sister and I have lost our other pet-,”

            “I hate losing my pets-,” Blue-Mabel added, Blue-Dipper continued,

            “And we find you, my sister’s look a-like, with our missing pet-,”

            “I’m not a pet.” Mumbled Will.

            “Was I talking to you?” he snapped. Will sank to the ground, looking at Mabel. She made eye contact, and something inside her clicked.

            “That’s rude.” She mustered. Glaring at her not-twin, “I was sent here by Bill, and I haven’t got time to be grabbed,” she yanked her hand back, “And told a bunch on nonsense.” She pulled her uncle away and gestured to Will, who quickly followed her, “So, if you’ll excuse me.” She was walking very fast, and whispered to Will, “Tell me you are as powerful as Bill.”

            “Um… I mean, I don’t like-,”

            “Can you get me home?” she snapped. He flinched and she sighed, if she wanted this dream demon on her side, she was going need to be a lot nicer to him, where was her twelve year old personality when she needed it, “If you get me and my uncle home,” she said sweeter, “Then I can take you home with me.”

            “Mean it?”

            “Yes.”

            He offered his hand, “Deal?” She stared at the thin black hand and her heart skipped. Deals had never worked out well for her, but what choice did she have? She shook his hand, blue flames flashing out over wrist as she sighed,

            “Deal.”

\---

            Mabel and Dipper Gleeful watched this new girl walk away. “To the Pine’s Palace? I’d like to ask Pacifica and Gideon if they had anything to do with this.” Mabel snapped.

            “What about Will?”

            “Let him have his fun with his new friend. He’ll pay for it when we kill her.” Mabel waved him away. She grabbed her brother’s hand and smiled at him,

            “Where do you think she came from?” he asked as they started walking towards their favorite people to mess with.

            “Well, there was that light. Pacifica will know.” She winked at him. He sighed,

            “Are we doing this just to see Pacifica?”

            “I like her. You like her. It’s a win-win.”

            “She hates us.”

            “She’ll learn to love us.” Mabel grinned crookedly, her hands itching with power, “I’ll see to it.”

            Dipper smiled into his sister’s blue eyes, he loved his Mabel. He had made sure she had whatever she wanted from the very beginning. When she learned about demons, he got her one of those too. And then she wanted the world, so he helped her conquer it. And now she wanted Pacifica. Sure, he was pretty sure he and Pacifica were meant to be together, and he deserved one thing he wanted, but Mabel always got what she wanted and he wouldn’t cross her. Not in a million years. Not ever.

\---

            Mabel Pines sat down in the middle of nowhere with her very quiet uncle. She didn’t pester him, she was perturbed by the way her brother looked her. _He wasn’t your brother. That wasn’t Dipper. Not your Dipper._

She looked back over at her uncle, who had fallen asleep. She sighed, feeling her wrist where her bracelet was. Where her tattoo was. She missed him. She missed home. She missed her Gravity Falls.

            “I’m not as strong as him.” Will said quietly.

            “As who? Those twins?” Mabel shrugged, “Those guys are terrible. When we get back to my place, my Gravity Falls, you’ll see. Everyone is much nicer.” _Sort of. You’re a terrible person. Maybe you deserve this._ She told herself.

            “No, as Bill. He came through, to try and help me, but he left me. This is all just…” he was tearing up. Mabel comforted the floating triangle,

            “It’ll be okay. You’re safe now.”

            “No one is safe here.” She heard a voice behind her. She jumped up, ready to fight the blue twins. But it was…

            “Gideon?” she asked. He wasn’t her Gideon, no one was people. That was something she needed to get used to.

            “Yeah…” he said coming more out into the open. He was still chubby and slightly taller. His white blonde hair was disheveled, and behind him stood a taller girl. Her blonde hair was in a hig ponytail, like from the ‘80s. She wore a colorful jacket and leg warmers.

            “Nice outfit.” She said, appreciating the girl’s style despite the complete apacolypse around them.

            “Nice sweater, Mabel?” she read the name.

            “Mabel Pines.” Will said, he looked proud, “I found her.”

            “Mabel… Pines?” Gideon looked to the taller girl who shook her head,

            “We’re the Pines twins-,”

            “What?” Mabel asked, “No. You guys aren’t even related. If you’re the Pines… then what are the other Mabel and Dipper?”

            “The Gleeful twins. Terrible people.”

            “They like you.” Gideon said apologetically to his… sister.

            She ignored her brother, still looking at Mabel, “So what are you doing here?”

            “I was sent here by Bill.” She said, “I just want to go back home. Will is supposed to help me get my uncle and I home.”

            “I think we have something that could help with that.” Pacifica said, waving them to follow her. Will, carried Ford as they followed the two new characters into the forest. Mabel felt like she was in a bad story. Alternate universes? What the Hell was even going on?

            She’d figure this all out when she got home. Home for the new Pine’s twins was the Mystery Shack. She smiled at the familiar sight. Pacifica opened the door and plugged in a code into the vending machine,

            “So, don’t freak out-,”

            “But there’s a portal down there, right?” she asked.

            They both looked at her and she shrugged, “I’ve got one at home. Where I am from, my brother and I live here… not the… Pines Palace?”

            “They named it after my sister. They love her. Like… love her.”

            “It’s disturbing.” Pacifica mumbled as they walked downstairs.

            “How did you know I was Mabel Pines and not Mabel Gleeful? You looked scared of me-,” she asked Will.

            “I thought they brought you over to catch me. I was in hiding, but Ford has never been mean to me. So then I knew.” He smiled at her.

            “Great, with Will, we can finally start this thing up.”

 

            It was a piece of junk. Mabel stared at the loose parts, held together with duck-tape, “There is no way this is safe.” She mumbled.

            Will touched the machine gently and it roared to life. Mabel floated into the machine, Will grabbed her hand, dropping Ford and they floated into the machine. Gideon grabbed Will’s foot, and Pacifica grabbed Gideon, but Gideon’s gasp slipped and they fell down next to sleeping Ford, as Mabel and Will disappeared through the portal into another dimension.

            “FORD!” she screamed out for her uncle, “FORD! FORD! FOOOOOORD!”


	12. Deerper

            Mabel was screaming for her uncle as she tried to fight her way back, but it was useless. She and Will fell into another space.

            The first thing she did was look at the sky, blue. With white clouds. Normal. Totally, completely normal.

            “Dipper and Mabel haven’t been here.” Will whispered, he was staring at a flower, caressing the petals. Mabel rolled her eyes,

            “The Gleeful Twins, or whatever they are. They aren’t Mabel and Dipper. I’m Mabel and my brother is Dipper. Those two freaks have nothing to do with us.” She turned and saw the Mystery Shack. “Nice,” she clapped the blue triangle on the back, “You got us pretty close to home.” She headed towards the place as Will followed her timidly,

            “M-Mabel, wait-,”

            She opened the totally normal door and walked in proudly, “Miss me, Kids?”

            A deer version of her brother stood in front of her, startled. A large aquarium was set up to hold a mermaid…. That looked like her and was Wendy a werewolf?

            “What the Hell…”

            “I was trying to say,” Will said behind her, “That I think I messed up a little bit.”

            “A little bit?” Mabel turned to face her new companion, “Dipper is A DEER!”

            “We call him Deerper.” Mer-Mabel said, Mabel didn’t have to see her mermaid self to hear the wide smile, “How’d you get my sweater?”

            Did they not recognize her? Mabel looked in the window and took in her grungy reflection.  Her long curly hair was tangled, her purple ‘Mabel’ sweater was ripped in a few places, and her sweat pants were covered in dirt. Even Mabel didn’t recognize herself.

            “It’s mine.” She said slowly, wondering how to lie to the young, weird mermaid, “I, uh, made it.”

            “With my name?” Mer-Mabel tilted her head slightly.

            “She might be right Mabel,” Dipper’s voice cracked, how old was he? “I mean, it looks a lot older than your sweater.”

            “Still weird.” Mer-Mabel mumbled. She looked back to Will and leaned her head on her arms, “Sooooo, what are you?”

            “Dr-dream demon.” He stuttered. Mabel rolled her eyes, no wonder the Gleeful Twins were so mean to the guy, he didn’t have a back bone in his body; well, he didn’t have any bones in his body. But that was beside the point.

            “We need your portal.” Mabel cut right to the point.

            “Our what?” Deerper asked.

            Mabel stared at the group, Wendy still watching, but not saying a word. This was pretty weird, she’d admit.

            “I don’t think Grunkle Stan has a portal-thing.” Mer-Mabel shrugged, “He’s got a lot of stuff, but not that.”

            Mabel turned around to Will, she could feel the rage burning on her face, “You… brought me to a universe that doesn’t have a Portal?” she hissed. Will sank to the ground, tears in his eyes.

            “Don’t make him cry!” Mer-Mabel shouted!

            “That’s not cool, man.” Wendy finally spoke up.

            Mabel snapped, “He cries if I kill a flower.” She pulled the triangle up and sighed, “Listen Will, I’m sorry, but I- we- need a portal. And I don’t know how to make one, only Ford does.”

            A door swung open and Mabel screamed. A dragon-stone-thing wearing Stan’s clothes looked at her asking, “Who’s asking about me and a portal? If it’s the government tell them to get lost.”

            “GRUNKLE STAN?!” She screamed, falling back into Will, who was absolutely no help, and she fell to the ground. She scooted away from the monster, “Wh-what happened to you?”

            “Gargoyle. Magic River. Where are you even from kid?” Stan stared at her.

            “What’s all that screaming?” asked a voice from behind Stan. Mabel jumped up,

            “Ford?” she pushed past the gargoyle and stared at the winged lion of a man.

            “Do we know each other?” he asked.

            “You guys have Ford, but no portal?” she turned to Mer-Mabel, “Or are you lying?”

            “How do you know about the portal?” Deerper asked.

            “I’m Mabel Pines, from another universe-,”

            “An AU in some dimensions-,” Will piped up. It took all Mabel had not to snap at him. She merely nodded,

            “Sure, sure. But where I need to get back to my place. My brother needs me. He’s doesn’t know anything and without Ford and I, everything will go to complete sh-,”

            “It doesn’t make sense.” Dipper said slowly, “If you’re Mabel, that means your brother is Dipper.”

            Mabel looked at him, “Yes.”

            “That would mean I don’t know anything?”

            She sighed, “My version of you doesn’t know anything, no. He used to, but a deal went wrong-,”

            It was then that Ford saw Will and glared, “A deal? With him? Who’s letting you make deals with that demon?”

            “This isn’t Bill!” she snapped.

            “I’m Will!” he said with a smile, offering his hand out, “Nice to meet you.”

            “No one is shaking your hand, Will. That’s how Bill ruins lives.”

            Will slouched, taking his hand back and nodded, “Right, right.”

            “But I’ve lost my brother and my uncle and I would like to use your portal-,”

            “I’m not reopening the portal so you can dimension jump!” Ford snapped.

            “Or maybe you just can’t figure out how to turn it back on again?” she snapped back.

            “Excuse me?”

            “My Ford needed me to decode his gibberish and I figured out those quirks.” She took a step back, realizing how angry she was getting. This wasn’t her. “I’ve had a very stressful day.” She tried to explain, “The last place I was in, the sky was on fire and my twin brother was part demon, not part deer. So I would really like to get back-,” she stopped mid-sentence, realizing that opening the portal would mean, if Dipper had done what he was supposed to do, then she could possibly re-release Bill. She sighed.

            “So, you’re not from the future?” Mer-Mabel broke the silence.

            “I mean, I don’t know.” Mabel shrugged, leaning on the counter, “This is all getting a bit much for me.”

            “You look a lot older than twelve.”

            “Almost thirteen.” Deerper added quickly. Mabel smiled, her Dipper was always quick to be older than he was. This Dipper must love Wendy too. Even if she was a werewolf, who seemed to be bored with the family drama and back to reading her magazine. She envied that.

            “I’m fifteen? Fourteen? Dipper would know, he’s actually lived a relatively normal life.”

            “And I haven’t?” Mer-Mabel asked.

            “We aren’t the same person.” Mabel tried to explain, “What happens to me, probably won’t happen to you. I mean, just… don’t make a deal with the yellow version of this guy, and you’ll be fine.” She glared at Ford, “Same to you.”

            “I would never-,”

            “Mine said the same thing, and here I am. With the preteen, monster versions of my family! This is weirder for me than it is for you, I can assure you that!” she ran her fingers through her hair, giving up with a sigh after running into knots and tangles.

            “So,” Mabel looked outside, “Is… is everyone monsters?”

            Mer-Mabel nodded, “Yeah, Dipper says we should rename the place Monster Falls. Grunkle Stan told everybody it would bring more money. But we’re still Gravity Falls right now.”

            “Monster… Falls.” She shook her head, “Listen, I have a dream demon to deal with. And I don’t want to drag you guys through the mud. If I could use your portal to get back to the last place I was in-,”

            “Go back?” Will asked, “I-I don’t want to go back. You said you would get me out of there.”

            “And I did.” She replied, “And now I need to go back for the uncle you seemed to forget was also a part of the deal. We grab my uncle. We leave. We can stay in the next place we get dropped off at, okay? Deal?”

            She hated the way he offered his hand to shake. These deals were so tiny, but it felt like she was going to lose something important every time she did. First all of Gravity Falls, then Dipper, then Ford, and then Ford again. She sighed and shook his hand and looked back at Ford,

            “Your portal, please?”

            Ford looked at Wendy, who finally looked up and shrugged, “Soos told me everything Mr. Pines. I get it. There’s a door behind the vending machine. I’ve been bringing my own snacks since you moved in.” she looked back to her magazine and Mabel laughed,

            “At least Wendy doesn’t change.” She wondered how her Wendy would be. With Bill-Robbie set on destruction, she hoped her older friend was safe. She hoped everyone was still safe, if she ever made it back home.

            Ford led the people down stairs, with Mer-Mabel complaining that there was no pool for her to go downstairs too.

            “Why did she choose to be a mermaid?” Mabel asked when they were out of ear shot, “I know I used to love unicorns. Why a mermaid? I didn’t do that for Hermando, did I? Because he’s totally married. Or I think he was. Is. Haven’t talked to him and that’s a dumb reason to-,”

            “We didn’t get to choose.” Deerper squeezed into the elevator, “Or else I wouldn’t be this. I’d be something a bit more…”

            “Bigger?” Stan teased.

            “Yeah. Less… pathetic.”

 

            Their portal looked exactly like hers, which she was thankful for, the last portal, made of duck-tape, was probably the reason why she wasn’t home yet.

            “What if something comes through?” Deerper asked.

            “Well, better hope it’s my version of you,” she told him, “Although, my Dipper might just scream and then ask a lot of questions. It’s been a long, weird two years.”

            Ford flipped the switch, Stan pulled the lever, and Mabel felt herself floating. The others grabbed a hold of something, Will grabbed a hold of her, and she fell through, hoping to land where she was supposed to.

           


	13. Relativity is Relatively Normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. Thanks for reading. 
> 
> I'm in the process of moving out of state and so I won't be posting daily anymore, although I will try. But trust me, I've got an ending in mind, and hopefully this monster of a fanfiction will end soon... ish.
> 
> Please kudos & comment if you like it! 
> 
> Stay perfect <3

This is not where they were supposed to be. She knew just by watching two twin boys running around outside of the Mystery Shack.

            “Am I a boy in this place?” she asked, she was tired from jumping through different dimensions and was pretty sure that, jumping through time and space wasn’t good for anybody.

            “I don’t think so.” He sat down with a sigh, “I am trying to help you.” He said, his bow tie and hat were droopy.

            “Don’t worry about it.” She comforted the demon, “We’ll get my uncle eventually. I mean, this place seems relatively normal-,”

            “Stan! Ford! Dinner!” she heard an old woman call off the front porch. She looked and stared at the old woman in a blue blazer, red tie, pink skirt, round glasses and pink fez.

            “Who’s that?” a chubby pig waddled through the front door and sat by the woman’s feet. The woman bent down to scratch the pig between the ears,

            “Hey, Waddles! We’re coming in! C’mon boys!”

            “Grauntie Mabel,” the boy with glasses started, “Does dinner have glitter in it too? Because I’m pretty sure I still have some stuck in my teeth.”

            The other boy ran up behind his brother, “Pretty sure he had a few pieces in his braces too.”

            The other boy sighed, “Grauntie, I don’t even think glitter is a food.”

            “It has nutrients!” the woman said walking inside, “Like fun, happiness, love-,” the list continued, but Mabel stopped listening as they all headed inside.

            “I’m an old lady in this dimension.” She sure felt like on as she sat down, her legs felt as if she had been running twenty marathons. Will sat close to her, and she leaned on the demon. It was slightly comforting, the way he was trying to help. The way he was quiet, the way he broke into tears over the littlest things. She wondered how he even ended up with those Gleeful bastards.

            “So, Dipper must be an old man.” She said with a smile, “And those kids are named after my uncles.”

            Will did this weird coughing, sweating, not making eye contact thing and Mabel stared at the awkwardness of it all before sighing, “That’s… probably actually Ford and Stan, right? We’re switched?”

            “Probably.” Will nodded. She shrugged,

            “Still not the weirdest thing I’ve seen today.”

            Will laughed. She didn’t think she had ever heard him laugh. She smiled and patted him gently on the back, “Didn’t know you had it in you, Will.”

            He smiled sheepishly, “Never had a reason too, I guess.”

            “Well, we’ll change that.” She leaned against the tree, “I want to say let’s barge in there and jump.”

            “I’m tired.” Will said it before she could. She nodded.

            “Four dimensions in one day. I could really use a nap.” She stared longingly at the Mystery Shack, her home. Her bed was right inside in the attic by the triangle window. Mabel sighed, she hated triangles, maybe Will would be the one exception.

            “I don’t need sleep in this form,” Will shrugged, “So, I can keep an eye out.”

            Mabel chuckled, “Yeah. You keep an _eye_ out.”

            Will didn’t catch the joke, and Mabel didn’t feel like breaking it down. She leaned back, her eyelids heavy as she fell asleep.

           

            She woke up with a start, Will was gone and she was surrounded by darkness. Darkness with two kids hiding, very badly, in the bush next to her. It looked like two Dipper’s without his star birthmark. Her thumb gently run over her tattoo as she pulled herself up. When she found Will, she was going to kill him, however one can kill a dream demon.

            “Stan and Ford, right?” she said, she was still exhausted. She could hear whispering and she sighed, “Listen, are you even old enough to be out this late at night?” she walked past them and headed towards the shack. She had a portal to find.

            The two boys followed her, Stan leading the pair, “How do you know our names?”

            Ford piped up, “And what was the light you came through?”

            “And the blue triangle thing?”

            Mabel stopped at the mention of Will and looked at the boys, “You saw him?”

            They both nodded and Stan pointed at the shack, “He wanted to talk to Grauntie Mabel.”

            “Well, she’s just popular tonight.” Mabel said as she climbed up the porch and pushed open the front door. She made her way through the house, taking in how different everything was. It was cleaner, the floorboards still offered a few splinters, and glitter could be found in crevices. Pictures of unicorns and knitted doilies were framed throughout the place and Mabel wondered if this was the kind of old woman she was supposed to turn into.

            This Mabel couldn’t have dealt with Bill, or fought in Weirdmageddon, because Mabel wasn’t sure she would ever be able to become this person.

            She could hear the old woman talking in the kitchen and she walked in to see Will sitting at the table drinking a cup of hot chocolate. He was by the window and smiled at her,

            “I was watching you!” he said, “But then Grauntie Mabel offered me hot chocolate, and I don’t remember the last time I had hot chocolate, and she sent the boys to watch you and she’s really nice.”

            “Great.” Mabel said, standing in the doorway. Grauntie Mabel stood up and made three more cups of hot chocolate, two for the boys who had matching blue cups with white pine trees all over them, and then offered the third to Mabel. It was a white cup with one large blue pine tree in the center. Mabel slowly took the cup, the old woman smiled,

            “I hear you know how to make the portal work?” she asked offering Mabel a seat at the table. Mabel sat next to Will and nodded,

            “Barely. Ford’s notes were-,”

            “Hear that, Ford?” she heard Stan on the other side of the door. Ford shushed his twin and the old woman shouted,

            “Eavesdrop quietly!” then focused her attention back on Mabel, “Yes, your Ford. Will told me about him. I don’t know how to pick through the channels. That was Dipper’s nerd stuff.”

            “Was Dipper’s… you mean is, right?” Mabel asked.

            The old woman shook her head, “I’ve been trying to get my brother back for the last forty years, but the portal won’t open for me. No matter what random buttons I push. If you can get my brother back for me-,”

            “I can go through?”

            “Yes.” The woman nodded. Mabel stood up,

            “Great, let’s get started.”

            “It’s nearly midnight!” Grauntie Mabel stood up slowly, “And my boys are still up-,”

            “Dipper and I always stayed up late.” Mabel said as she headed towards the gift shop. The kids burst through the door,

            “Pllleeeeeaaaasssssssseeeee-,” Ford asked the old woman as Stan was already right behind Mabel.

            “So who’s Dipper?” he asked.

            “My brother.” Mabel replied shortly.

            “You have a brother?”

            “Yup.”

            Ford was trailing behind her now, “What’s he like?”

            “Depends on where you’re from.” Mabel said as she plugged in the code to the vending machine. The boys stood back in awe as the old woman cut in front, whispering to Mabel,

            “They don’t know anything about Dipper. I haven’t told them.”

            “It’s okay.” Mabel whispered back, “Grunkle Stan did the same thing to me and Dipper with Ford. And now I’m trying to rescue him. Long story.”

            Old Mabel led the group downstairs to the portal, that Ford seemed to have a field day with. He was examining everything and Mabel thought it was cute how Stan just watched his brother with his hands in his pockets. Not much changed in this dimension.

            Mabel sat at the chair, working with what notes she had. She flipped a switch, pulled  a lever and nothing happened.

            “See?” Old Mabel said, “Nerd stuff.”

            “Ford, come see.” Mabel called the six-fingered boy to her. He ran over, ready to help her. She placed him in front of the control dial, “I’m going in there, I’m going to hit the portal with a wrench, at the same time push all these buttons. And Stan?” Stan walked over, curious, but trying to stay cool,

            “Huh?” he asked.

            “When Ford starts pushing random buttons, hold this switch.”

            “Will that work?” Old Mabel asked. Mabel shrugged,

            “Hopefully.” She headed into the room, Will behind her. She started banging on the portal and Will touched it, bringing it to life. Will latched himself to Mabel as someone came through the portal, an old man. Mabel grabbed a hold of something,

            “FORD! GRUNKLE FORD!” she shouted at him. She couldn’t jump through now, that was the exact man she was looking for. The portal shut down and she fell, her face slamming into the floor, but she didn’t care. She had her Grunkle! The first step in her plan to get back home to Dipper!

            “Dipper!” Old Mabel ran into the room and opened her arms to the old man in the black trenchcoat.

            “M-Mabel?” he looked around, and that’s when Mabel realized her mistake. The man had gray hair, and looked so much like her Grunkle, but the stellar birthmark sprawled across his forehead told her who the old man really was.

            “Are you crazy, Mabel?” he yelled at his twin. The old woman looked taken back as her twin yelled more, “Do you have ANY IDEA what you’ve just done?!”

            “Save your life.” Mabel said sternly.

            “Save my…. After what you did forty years ago?!” he lunged at his sister and tripped over his own feet, falling face first. She knelt down threw glitter over him,

            “Boop.” She said with a smile. He looked up at her,

            “After all this time?” he started to laugh as he pulled himself up and hugged her, “God, I’ve missed you Mabel.”

            Mabel’s heart felt like it would explode. She wanted her brother, and the boys ran through asking questions and Mabel didn’t stick around. This wasn’t her family to intrude on. She nodded to Will, who touched the Portal again and they jumped through. Dipper looked at her and stared. The boys waved as they floated in the air and then, she was falling again. Will was holding on to her arm and all she  could hope was that the next dimension better have her family, not some weird alternate replacements.

 


	14. Wish You Were Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter. Had a lot more planned for this, but I'm moving and posting everyday during a move is stressful. I had so much fun writing this and as always--> Thanks for reading!!! <3
> 
> (I'll write more work soon, but probably after I'm settled in my new place and job.)
> 
> Don't forget to kudos and comment!!!!1

A young woman stared a rotting, wooden attic. She had jumped a few missing stairs to make her way up to this room, not sure what she hoped to find. This place hadn’t seen people in what seemed like years. She stared at two faded books on the ground amongst ripped posters and blank pages. One was a pink scrapbook. She knelt down and wiped the dust away, flipping through the faded pictures with a slight smile.

            The book next to it was a black journal, with a pine tree in the center. She picked it up carefully, resting on her knees, and opened the old book. Her fingers carefully running over the faded ink that stained the yellow pages.

 

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            I know this is stupid. Writing a bunch of letters to you and I have no idea where you are, but if you come home and this plan has gone all wrong, then this journal will be able to tell you what happened.

            Pacifica’s parents are dead. She doesn’t talk as much, I don’t blame her. We just kind of sit in the woods sometimes when Gideon and Wendy are training and we pretend we’re training too. But we’re just doodling in our journals, taking notes about the supernatural wildlife.

            We met Multibear. He served us tea, and we all just kind of relaxed. Said he knew us from before the Reset. He’s not effected. Pacifica’s new mission is to see what makes something forget. She remembers now too, I think that’s why she needs to know.

            I know we should be working on Bill’s whereabouts. But he’s been off the map. Probably in his castle, but Gideon refuses to go near there. I hear him laughing in my dreams, but I assume that’s just nightmares. I hope it’s just nightmares.

            We’ve evacuated everyone out of town. We just put them in their cars and told them free vacation. On the Mystery Shack! Don’t know where Stan sent them, probably somewhere cheap. But cheap and out of Gravity Falls means safe. Everything away from this place is safe.

            I miss you. More and more I remember us, I’ll find you. I promise.

            Love, Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            Pacifica and I found these crystals that can change your size! After playing around shrinking and growing for ages, we pocketed the gems. Gideon, I hate the kid, told me the other day he likes “Paz”, he calls her “Paz” and doesn’t like how much time I spend with her.

            Then Wendy asked me to chill with her, and I just… Pacifica is kind of like you, you know? Hates people, hates noises, I mean, that sounds really bad. But she has flash backs so easily, and I hate leaving her alone.

            I don’t want to lose her, the way I lost you. I promised her I would never lose her.

            I promise I’ll find you.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            Stan doesn’t talk much anymore. Soos tried cooking breakfast this morning, and after Wendy put out the fire, I’m in charge of cooking. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but the Mystery Shack is my house, and they’re my guests… you know?

            I’ve only been without you for a week now and it’s getting hard. Our search for Bill feels pointless and our search for you feels like a joke.

            I just wish I knew what to do. To find you. Ford. To fix Stan. Everything is falling apart. And it’s all my fault.

            I hope you’re both safe.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            It’s been a week since my last letter. Everything just got so hard, so quick. I’m cooking three times a day. Paz helps me clean, she prefers Paz. I think it makes her feel like someone different. I can get that. I wish I was someone else now, someone who didn’t help destroy an entire town.

            Stan wouldn’t eat. Soos is up there on “Stan Watch”.  I talk to him, but I know what he needs. What we all need. You.

            He did this for decades, and I’m caving after a few weeks. You’re stronger than me.

            Come home.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            Paz, Wendy, and I surveyed Bill’s castle, secretly of course. Gideon is having more attacks when we bring up Bill’s name. Soos has been watching over Stan and Gideon. We need Gideon, when we fight Bill. But first we have to find him.

            Find Bill. Find you and Ford.

            We couldn’t get in the castle, but we’re pretty sure he’s in there. Have to go, Gideon’s yelling again.

            Dipper.

           

                        **Mabel** ,

            I was sitting in bed last night and I had this memory of us singing karaoke. And there were zombies. I feel like that’s a bit farfetched… but then again, I’m in the middle of a “Weirdmageddon”.

            Paz has been sleeping up here with me. I thought it would be weird, but she had these nightmares… And I had nightmares, and I can’t leave this room alone. This room has memories, that I’m pretty sure if I stare at your side of the room long enough they’ll just pop up.

            Sometimes, when I wake up, I hope you’re there on your bed. Ready to yell at me for sharing your sweaters with Paz. But you never do. You never will.

            I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that I lost you. I lost you for good. That I’ll never see you again and this entire journal is just some stupid teenager throwing up his emotions somewhere else so no one will see how much… how much I miss you. How much I need you.

            Paz and I are planning a funeral for her parents. It’s this week. Summer is almost over. I don’t know what to do about the Reset. About school. And home. And our parents. I’ve only got a month left.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            I miss you.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            Stan… he’s sick. I have to get him out of Gravity Falls. I think it’s best if we take him to a hospital outside, back by Mom and Dad’s place.

            They’ll want me to stay, I think. But I won’t. I can’t. I’m leaving Soos with him and Mom and Dad. But I’m coming back.

            We’ve come up with a plan for the Reset. The crack in the Dome? We’re slipping outside of it. We’ll watch it from the outside. I’m telling Mom and Dad that Grunkle Ford wants to homeschool me, a million PhDs sounds like a good education to me, you know?

            I don’t care if I fall behind, we all will. We’re family now. We’re a team, and we’re going to find a way to stop Bill.

            Because I’m pretty sure you’re dead. You and Ford both. And I’m sorry.

            Dipper.

                        **Mabel** ,

            We watched the Reset from outside the Dome. Tents and all. Soos suggested, before we left him at the hospital, that we just stay home. All of us. Mom and Dad were fine with it. They liked Paz.

            But I couldn’t risk letting Bill out into the world. He’d find the crack and he’d find us. I know he would. He’s already taken you; if he hurt anyone else… I couldn’t do it, Mabel. I couldn’t.

            Stan should be fine. Mom and Dad were all over him. Dinner. Family photos. The whole thing. It was… homey.

            This “summer” is the last summer. I’m not doing this anymore. I don’t care how we end it at this point. It has to end. I deserve some type of normal life.

            And so do the others. I’m sorry you never did.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            We found Bill. I’ve been so terrible about this journal. It’s been one full year. A year. I was only supposed to be here one more damn summer. But when your enemy is Bill Cipher, all of your plans are pretty much useless.

Paz is so dedicated to hers, and I just… I don’t know. She’s writing to herself, and I’m writing to a dead girl. Bill’s been in his castle, trying to reopen the rift.

            We tried to take him on. We failed… we failed so terribly. We fled back to the shack. I’ve been seeing him every night, it gets worse and worse.

            Paz doesn’t sleep anymore. Wendy’s been working on the portal. The three of us… we’re broken people without Gideon.

            Gideon… he sacrificed himself for us. Bill, he saw us. I don’t know what we were thinking. He saw us, and he… he pretended to lose. Then he left Robbie’s body, I didn’t… we didn’t think he could. He was laughing and the rift almost looked like it opened and Gideon… he just threw himself at the demon.

            Bill looked at him and laughed, told us to run. And we… had to leave him behind.

            Wendy’s been trying to find a way back in the castle, a way to get him back. Paz helps her. Helps me. Helps everyone but herself.

            I feel like I’ve grown years and it’s only been a year since you’ve been gone. Paz and I are a thing. I don’t know if you care. She still wears your sweaters. She wants to learn to knit, but we don’t really have the time too.

            Stan… he passed away. Natural causes. He was happy. At least, that’s what Mom said. I don’t think he really ever was happy. I think losing you and Ford broke his heart.

            I… can’t think about it. I miss you Mabel. Every day.

            Dipper.

 

                        **Mabel** ,

            Wendy… she was asleep. We lost track of the time. We would have lost everything if… if Paz hadn’t realized the day. The time. She rushed me out of the shack and out back. We ran so fast, it was after we watched the Reset happen that we realized that Wendy was still inside.

            When we headed back in, carefully down to the portal and Wendy was staring at the portal confused and shocked.

            It was Paz who broke the news that her beloved boyfriend was dead. He had been dead for three years.

God… we had been in this terrible place for three years.

            It was Paz who told her that her family was living in another lumberjack town. That, as far as we all knew, everyone was fine. Paz told her about Grunkle Stan passing away. About Mabel and Gideon’s… death. She said death.

            Then she said we should all leave. And so we did. We left. I remember leaving that place, with this stupid journal, hoping never to come back.

            Mom and Dad barely recognized me. Let the three of us move in. Wendy applied for college. Paz and I did too. Adults. We started in that place as kids and now we were in the normal world, filled with bustling people all the damn time. Rushing everywhere they went.

            Three years of just Paz, Wendy, and I. I plan on marrying Paz, if she’ll have me. I mean, we’ve been together this long. But there were so many more people now… it doesn’t matter. None of this matters.

            I failed you. And Ford. I failed…

            The Dome is still open. Crap.

            Dipper.

                       

                       **Mabel** ,

            This is my last journal entry. I barely wrote in this stupid thing. I’ve got a wife, Paz, I mean who else would have a crazy guy like me?

            Wendy owns her dad’s lumber jack business. She hasn’t really moved on from Robbie. But she keeps saying Robbie is a blonde, tall kid to everyone who asks about him. Paz thinks she slightly remembers Gideon. But we won’t say anything. We can’t.

            She’ll want to come back to this God awful place. And I just… I can’t do this anymore. I’m sealing up the Dome for good. I just… it sounds stupid, but I wanted to leave this journal here. For you? Probably not, you’re dead. But for Gideon, if he gets free. He knows where the crack is. He can figure a way out, a way back to us.

            This is a sorry to him. I’m sorry we left you behind. I’m sorry we couldn’t save you. But thank you. Thank you for saving us.

            And if Bill is the one who finds this? Rot in Hell. Rot in this place for the rest of eternity. All the power in the world, and nowhere to go, you bastard.

            Ford… if you came back. The portal has done nothing but gather dust since you left it. I hope you take it apart. We never could.

            Mabel… if you end up reading this short summary of what happened after you left. Then I’m sorry. I’m sorry I failed. But here’s a picture of Paz and my’s first kid. Willow Mabel Pines. She’s got your eyes. I know we have the same eyes… but just work with me here, okay?

            I love you. Mystery Twins.

            Dipper.

 

 

            The woman felt tears run down her face and splash onto the old paper. She shoved the book away, wiping her face. She had traveled so long and so far only to get stuck here. The baby’s picture was faded, but she could make out the brown eyes. There was nothing much to a baby so young, but the woman ran her fingers over the cracking photograph.

            “Mabel?” she heard her only friend call from down the stairs.

            “I’m coming, Will.” She called back. Her purple sweater was ripped to shreds, her black undershirt showing through the rags of the old sweater. Her sweat pants had been long replaced with trousers, from another Mabel in some dimension where… she didn’t want to talk about it. She tucked the picture away, back to its place.

            Maybe Gideon was still alive. Maybe Mabel could finally finish what she was supposed to all that time ago.

            “Mabel?” Will called again. He wasn’t so whiney and pathetic now, but it didn’t make him any less annoying.

            “What?” she snapped.

            “They followed us again.” He said, floating up to her. Fear written across his face, “The Gleefuls.”

            “Well, we’ll just have to lose them.” Mabel walked towards the window to catch a glimpse of their enemies .Mabel and Dipper Gleeful had tracked her and Will down ever since she left. They had torn apart entire universes looking for the unlikely pair.

            And now they were here. Trapped with them in a dome with Bill. This was it. She went to turn away, and a flash of color caught her eye in all the dust. She smiled at the homemade bracelet that was left for her and slipped it onto her wrist.

            _Mystery Twins_.


	15. End of Summer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of this fan-fic.

            Will hovered over her shoulder, a habit she hated, but had grown used to. Every time she told her small blue companion to give her space he literally burst into tears. So she just let him hover, it made him feel safer to be so close to her.  Over, what seemed like, an eternity of travelling Mabel had warmed up to Will. Even getting used to never being alone.

            But that hadn’t stopped her from missing her brother and her grunkles. But now she knew she would never see them again. Bill had ruined that for her. He had ruined her entire life and what was she supposed to do now?

            This place was sealed. She had spent so much time jumping dimensions, she wasn’t really qualified to do any normal life things. And how would she explain Will?

            _“Oh hi, I’m applying for a job. Nope. No education, unless you count random dimension travelling, half-assed math and, hmm? This thing? This is Will. He kind of… won’t leave me alone. Stuck to me really. Nope? Not hiring? Ok. Thanks.”_

Yeah. That would be everywhere, wouldn’t it? She sighed, at least Dipper got out. They got out. Maybe if she could get the portal working again, she could find a way to send her back. Send her back to save herself, to save everything. Maybe…

            “Mabel?” Will derailed her train of thoughts. She sighed,

            “Yeah?”

            “They found Bill. They’re headed here.”

            “Well, it should still be warded… No. Not it’s not. Damn it all to Hell.” Mabel kicked the journals under her bed and jumped down the stairs.

            “Where are we going?” he asked.

            “The basement. Maybe it’s still intact.” The vending machine had mold growing on the inside. Gross. She plugged in the code, but nothing lit up. She slammed on the door, frustrated. Will touched the machine and it swung open. He could be helpful… sometimes.

            He powered up the rickety elevator, and she stared at the portal. Dipper was telling the truth, no one had destroyed the thing. Maybe… maybe it could still work.

            She could hear them upstairs and cursed. There was no way this was going to work. No way, this plan was a hundred years old. And way off base. She was supposed to throw Robbie into the portal, but Robbie’s body was fully decomposed by now.

            They had ruined his life. They had ruined so many lives.

            “I wonder if there was a universe where everything was normal.” She wondered aloud, banging on the rusty switches to get them to move.

            “That was this one.” Will sighed, “Or supposed to be anyway. I wonder what messed it up.”

            “Bill Cipher.” She snapped. The switch finally gave way and she ran to the control board, pushing random buttons, that’s how she usually got the damn thing to work everywhere else.

            Will flew in, flicking the machine, powering the dead areas. She had to admit, travelling with a dream demon had it’s perks.

            “Well, well, well-,” Bill’s voice echoed through the room. Mabel had gone so long without hearing that voice. Only in her nightmares, that Will had spared her from. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she wanted to heave. She took a deep breath, Will hovering over her shoulder, hiding from his alternate. She sighed, he was coward. She wished she could hide behind someone for once instead of always being the frontline.

            “Bill.” She turned around slowly to face her nightmare. He was just like Will in every way, but yellow and much more confident. How could she forget how similar the two were.

            “You didn’t come all this way to get rid of me, did you?” he asked, “Because I honestly thought we were friends.”

            “Friends don’t send friends into dying dimensions, Bill.” She looked behind him, “Where are the Gleefuls?” she asked.

            “Will,” Bill ignored the question, “I think together we have enough juice to get out of this joint-,”

            “Not without Mabel-,”

            “Where are the Gleefuls?”

            “Will-,” Mabel Gleeful’s voice pierced the air. A shiver went down Mabel’s spine, “Your thinking about me?”

            He cowered behind his knight in shining armor. Mabel threw her hands up as Mabel threw a ball of blue fire at her. She was hit in the chest, the force throwing her back into the portal, rigging it to life.

            “NO!” she screamed!

            “YES!” Bill screamed, flying at the gateway to out of town. She pushed herself at Bill, tackling him.

            A scream echoed throughout the room, catching everyone’s attentions. Will was covered in blood, as Mabel Gleeful’s limp body levitated. Dipper grabbed his twin, throwing a glare at Mabel,

            “This is your fault! Why did you have to come through and ruin everything?!” he screamed.

            “Bill!” she shook her head, “It… Bill!” she struggled against the yellow triangle.

            Will threw himself at Bill, accidently bumping Mabel out of the way. She screamed as she fell through the portal.

            “Mabel!” Will’s scream echoed after her. She held her hands together and closed her eyes; it didn’t matter where she went now. Everything she knew and loved was gone.

            Dipper Gleeful watched the other Mabel fall through the portal. He let go of his twin and chased after the girl that ruined his life. Will and Bill’s hands were linked and each was using their power against each other. Were they… destroying each other? Dipper didn’t stick around to find out, he jumped through the closing portal, but an explosion from behind him knocked him out.

           

            Mabel woke up in her twin size bed, in the attic of her Grunkle Stan’s house in the middle of some hick town in No Where, U.S.A. She saw a brunette boy staring at her,

            “Goodnight Stupid.” He whispered and fell asleep.

            “D-dipper?” she asked and got out of bed, “D-dipper?! It’s me! I’m back!” but he stayed asleep. So she sat by his bed and waited. And waited. She wasn’t tired.

            He got up and wandered around the room, Mabel followed him. She followed him around for days. Screaming out for him. But he ignored her, walked through her even.

            She was literally a ghost.

            “Am I dead?”

            She followed him everywhere. Watched her Grunkle Stan fall into depression. Watched Dipper fall in love with Paz. Watched Gideon fall deeper and deeper into his PTSD. Wendy trying to stay cool, but she was losing herself too. She watched them fall apart.

            She watched Paz’s mom attack her and Dipper.

            “GRAB THE GUN OFF THE WALL!” she screamed at Paz, and Paz seemed to look at her before she ran. And then… she watched Paz kill her own mother. Was that her fault too?

            She watched Dipper listen to the plan, they were going to free everyone from Gravity Falls. “DIPPER. DIPPER!” It seemed all she did was scream at him for him to see her.

            And he looked at her. He looked at her. She touched his face, “Dip-Dop.”

            “What is it?” Wendy asked.

“N-nothing,” he wouldn’t admit he was going crazy, “I just thought I saw something.”

“You probably did.”

Dipped shrugged and looked out the window. Mabel felt her heart break. She was… she was dead wasn’t she? So she just followed her brother. She watched him grow. She watched him break.

She watched them lose Gideon. She watched him leave Wendy behind. She watched him write in that stupid journal. Sometimes she just sat in the attic, letting the days pass.

Then they left. And she didn’t follow him. She couldn’t. So she just sat there and never moved. He came back, taller, with a beard.

“You look terrible with that.”

He looked up and she thought he could see her, but he couldn’t. He dropped the notebook in the middle of the floor. He went to the window and sighed. He pulled a bracelet out of his pocket and placed it down,

“Good bye Mabel.” And he walked away. She followed him down the stairs,

“P-pl-please, Dip-Dop,” she reached for him, tears running down her face, “Dip-Dop, please, I’m right here. Dipper, please look at me.”

He stopped at the door and turned back. He looked at her.

“Can… you see me?”

He walked away and that was the last time she would ever see her brother. She feel to her knees and sobbed.

“I can.” She heard from behind her. She looked up and stared at the blue-eyed Dipper in front of her.

“You!” she jumped up, “Get-,”

“Have you been up in that attic this whole time?” he asked softly.

“I-,”

“Pacifica lived in this place. Where I’m from. I would visit her all the time, I didn’t tell Mabel. She’d be so angry with me, she wanted everything for herself you know? But I loved her all the same. My Mabel, she wasn’t anything like you.”

“Good.”

“We’re dead… aren’t we?”

“I don’t know.” She said softly, “But I guess so.”

“My Mabel died down there.” He looked at the vending machine with a sigh, “But she’s not here. She’s where that place was. Everything was so much easier before you took Will.”

“Everything was so much easier before Bill took away my Dipper.”

He smiled, sitting down on the counter, “In this dimension, I got the girl. I got Pacifica. There’s that.”

“And I got nothing. I died.”

“Not true. We come back here in about, what, a hundred years?” he glanced at his watch that she doubted even worked, “In one hundred years, we’ll open that damn portal and end up like this.”

“So all we have to do is try and jump through it again when-,”

“When we open it up.”

“That’s a long time to wait.”

“Yup.” They sighed in awkward silence.

 

Dipper and Mabel shared stories of their other twins. They wandered Gravity Falls going on adventures. They had no one else to hang out with… so they made do. They slept upstairs in those lumpy twin beds. Slept… they laid down and stared at the ceiling, letting time tick by.

“What happens if we jump-,” Dipper asked, “And the next place is worse than this?”

“We’re our only company.” Mabel said slowly, “And we’re practically ghosts. How can it get worse?”

            “I don’t know.” He rolled over.

            She sighed, “It’ll be fine.” She comforted her new Dipper. He wasn’t really her twin, but he might as well have been. They had been good fillers for each other. Losing track of time, losing track of everything.

            “What if we lose each other?” he asked.

            “Code word Waddles.” She said, and he rolled back over,

            “After your old pig?”

            “I loved that pig!” she defended, “And it’s a good code name.”

            He smiled, “Sure. Waddles.”

            “Mabel?” she heard a voice.

            “What was that?” Dipper shot up. Mabel was already out of bed and stared at herself coming up the rotting stairs.

            “That’s me.”

            “Finally.”

            “We won’t miss this. Let’s go.” She also didn’t want to watch herself go through this all over again. They ran downstairs, going through the door and heading to the portal. They sat there, waiting. Waiting was a skill now, a personality trait even.

            Mabel and Will were stressing about the portal. Trying to wake it up. Mabel and Dipper held hands, ready to jump.

            Confrontation. Neither listened. They knew what happened. Death. Mistakes. Stupidity. The portal kicked on and they jumped.

\---

 

            Mabel screamed as she fell onto the street of Robbie Valentino’s home. It was dark, night time. She hated dimension travelling, it was always a bust. Rain poured down and she ran inside her old home. Looking back for her blue-eyed Dipper. But there was nothing.

            She headed up to the stairs, this place looked like someone lived here. She heard shuffling upstairs and she headed up and saw Robbie, regular eyes and lame black jacket,

            “Hey, Kiddo!” he ruffled her hair, “You look terrible.”

            “Just… got lost in the woods.” She stuttered. He shrugged and headed back into his room. She ran into her old room and realized what had happened.

            She was back in the very beginning. This… was… the start. Her first summer of the reset. She turned around, shutting the door behind her before falling to her knees and sobbing.

\---

            It had been two years. Two years of the repeated Hell, that she couldn’t stop or fix. But she had Ford. She appreciated him this time around. But she couldn’t find Dipper. Blue-eyed Dipper. Her other twin. The one that remembered her.

            She sprawled out on her bedroom rug, papers of notes everywhere, all written in invisible ink. She’d be damned if some math triggered Bill to wake up. Her frustration was at a breaking point as angry tears stung her eyes,

 “I can’t fix this! I can’t even find him- I can’t-,”

“Find who?”

Mabel nearly screamed and she quickly wiped her over- sized sweater sleeve across her face and sniffled, “Robbie!”

“Let me help you. I’m sure we can figure out-,”

It was over. She stared at the blank pages, defeated and broken. “Don’t worry about it Robbie.” She shot him a small smile, “You’re a great brother.” And started to clean up. Robbie left her alone and shut the door behind him. She pulled herself into Sweater Town and just let herself cry.

            A few days later that stupid movie was playing. Sev’ral Times. God, she hated them. She forced herself into Robbie’s room, begging him to bring her and her friends. Her old friends. Her friends that loved her, but who were they? Who was she? Why did anything matter anymore?

            She sang the stupid album on the way to theater. She jumped out and waited in line. Money, she cursed, she needed money for a stupid ticket. 

            “Robbie, I need five bucks!” she called over her shoulder. He was talking to Wendy. She sighed and ran over,

            “Robbbiiiiee…” she trailed off as she stared at the brunette boy in front of her. The stupid baseball cap. The blue vest, red shirt, pair of jeans. She swallowed. What color was his eyes? Which Dipper? Which one was he?

“Wow. You guys could be twins.” Wendy said slowly.

“I’m Mabel.” Mabel offered her hand slowly, pushing up her sleeve to show her clammy palm. Would he look up? Wouldn’t he look at her so she could see his damn eyes.

“Dipper.” Clinking of bracelets. Dipper looked at her hand and yanked his away and fell back a step, “Where… where did you get that?”

“I… uh… I’ve always had it. It was given to me by-,” she stammered. They were staring at each other. The shadow of his cap was blocking his eye color.

“Maybe you guys got them both from the same thrift store. Didn’t I buy that for you, Mabes?” Robbie asked slowly.

“Where’s Waddles?” she whispered to the mysterious Dipper. Their code word. God, let him remember. Dipper stopped, confusion written across his face. She wished she could rip her heart out and chuck it across the street.

“Dipper, is- are you okay?” She hugged him, but Dipper freaked, taking a step back, pushing her gently off,

“Whoa- listen, I don’t really know who you are. Waddles was my pet pig when I was a kid. I don’t even know who you are, really.” Mabel wanted to scream.

“Dipper?” Robbie said the name again, slowly.  Mabel knew this is where the world went to shit. She shook her head violently,

 “No. No, you’re right. I don’t know what came over me. I … just always wanted a pet pig.” She said, her voice shaking. She looked up at Robbie, “Robbie? Are you okay? Should we go home?” She broke the cycle,

“Let’s go home.”

“But the movie-,” he said looking at Wendy.

“I’m gunna’ throw up.” She lied. Well, was she really lying? He sighed,

“I drove all the way out here-,”

She made sick faces and he sighed, “Alrigth, alright.” And he drove her home. Wendy said she would take the other girls home.

Mabel sighed as she locked the door behind Robbie.

“I thought you were sick.” He said. But she knew what happened here. She simply nodded,

“I am. Come help me find the medicine.” He did. He loved her, for some stupid reason. They went into the kitchen. The tea mug was there. She knew what she did before, she drank tea. Dipper knocked on the door. Her world fell apart.

“I’m sorry Robbie. But you die anyway.”

“What?” he perked up.

“Be dead honest with me.” She looked him in the face, the knives behind her, “Have you seen anything weird lately?”

“I… uh…”

“I can’t risk it, Robbie.” She pulled the knife out its place and threw it. It landed in his chest. He screamed. She grabbed another and as he fell she walked to him, looking up at her, a flash of yellow and she slit his throat. She dropped the knife and walked out of the house, shedding her sweater. She walked towards the bunker.

\---

Dipper Gleeful fell through the portal and screamed as he saw his surroundings. The damn Mystery Shack that he had just left. It was still falling apart.

“Mabel, it didn’t work.” Silence. “Mabel?” he looked over and stared at the closed portal, “MABEL?!”

He ran at the wall and slammed into it. He stepped back, jarred by the new feeling. He was no longer a ghost…  he was a person.

“A PERSON NOW?” he roared at the empty room. He ran his fingers through his hair as he paced the room. “Well, let’s find a way out of this dump.” He headed upstairs, and wandered outside the shack. He was hungry. All the food around here had gone bad, but then he remembered the bunker Mabel had told him about. With all the canned food.

Some of that still had to be good, right? He followed the overgrown trail and smiled at the looming tree. He found his way in, after many falls and bruises and failures, finally the place let him in. He wandered around, going through the food.

Half of it was expired, but a can of beans didn’t look too bad. Smelled bad, but he’d be hungrier later. He placed the can down and stared at the weird control room in front of him.

“Huh.” He opened the room on the other side and stared at the girl in the tube. Mabel? He banged on the glass, “MABEL? MABEL!”

“Waddles?” he heard from behind him. He turned around and stared at the old woman in front of him.

“W-waddles.” He said, his eyes tearing up, “H-have you been here-,”

“This is where I belonged.” She said softly, “I’m a monster.”

“No, Mabel. Mabel.” He walked towards her. She leaned into his embrace,

“I ended it.” she whispered into his ear, “I ended it.” And her body went limp. He fell to his knees and cried. He cried.

 

**Mabel,**

I miss you.

Dipper

 

He stared at the short letter he squeezed into the journal. He wondered if she would ever see it. If there was a loop and in some universe, his letter stuck out. And she would read it. And she would know.

And then he left Gravity Falls for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.  
> Yup. It went there.  
> Sorry not sorry. 
> 
> <3


End file.
